Japanese telecoms operator Softbank is streamlining its data center operations by deploying Brocade VDX switches in its group-wide common service infrastructure network.
Softbank said the new infrastructure will greatly reduce complexity and the cost of network operations within its data centers, giving the company greater agility to pursue new growth opportunities in OTT services.
SoftBank has a strong track record of using data center virtualization to support the back-end systems that support the company's internal applications and external services.
However, as these applications and service have increased in number and scale, SoftBank was beginning to experience significant network operational issues stemming from the complexity of the existing infrastructure. As a result, the company decided to revamp its common service infrastructure network using highly open, best-in-class components.
“Increased data center agility is critical to realizing the company's strategy of delivering new OTT services to drive growth,” said Takenobu Yamane, manager of system infrastructure and service platform at SoftBank.
“Deployment of Brocade VDX switches as part of the new common service infrastructure network gives our data centers a more flexible and automated foundation, supporting a much more streamlined and cost-effective operational model that is capable of responding rapidly to new demands,” the executive said.
The Brocade VDX 6740 and 6740-T switches, deployed in three key SoftBank data centers, create an elastic, self-forming, and self-healing Ethernet fabric with Brocade VCS Logical Chassis functionality enabling the entire fabric to be managed as a single switch.
The fabric-based architecture simplifies and automates virtual machine mobility and management within the data centers, which is ideal for supporting cloud data center operations.