AT&T and Colt Technology Services are accelerating the adoption of software-defined networking (SDN) through the creation, testing and successful trial of a standard application programming interface (PAI) infrastructure.
AT&T and Colt Technology partnered on a trial showing SDN control of service provisioning between U.S. and Europe across different networks
AT&T and Colt Technology Services revealed trial results of a standard application programming interface (API) infrastructure that lets software-defined networking (SDN) architectures from different network service providers interoperate. The test occurred between two networks in the United States and Europe, and the proof of concept reportedly revealed that users could reserve ports, order a point-to-point Ethernet service, flex the bandwidth up and down, and turn down the service in near real time.
According to the two firms, the API lets SDN architectures from different network service providers interoperate with each other.
During the trial between the two networks in the US and Europe, AT&T said it has successfully provisioned network services between the east coast of the US and various locations in Europe.
This allowed SDN-to-SDN control using a programmatic API-to-API interface between the separate SDN architectures, proving that SDN-managed services can be set up and run across multiple networks in just minutes. They can also be managed and flexed in near-real time. This creates a template for providers to deploy new services in a matter of minutes over each other’s networks.
Business customers will benefit from on-demand, flexible, scalable network services as they can take advantage of new technologies through more open, standardized and software-centric networking services.
The proof of concept reveals that users could reserve ports, order a point-to-point Ethernet service, flex the bandwidth up and down and turn down the service in near-real time.
The API trial integrates AT&T’s and Colt’s on-demand network capabilities. The companies expect that these capabilities will drive further industry collaboration and standardization. They also plan to share the network-to-network interface and open API code with standards bodies and industry forums.
Roman Pacewicz, SVP, offer management and service integration at AT&T said, “Our work at AT&T Labs and AT&T Foundry, and our collaboration with Colt will help enable customers to have more cost-efficient, flexible and adaptable networks.”