Colt has long had one of the industries more aggressive plans to leverage SDN and NFV in its network. Today the UK-based global network operator took two more steps down that path, bringing greater functionality to the company's customer base around the world.
Colt is now offering SD-WAN solutions across both its APAC and North American footprint, expanding outward from its European core. Those SD-WAN capabilities combine with the NFV services Colt is offering via universal CPEs and access options from Colt's own fiber to third party internet to 3G/4G wireless links.
In addition, the company has officially launched on-demand network services in the southeast Asian hub of Singapore, complementing their launch earlier this year in Japan after last year's European debut. Perhaps North America is next?
For many years it seemed as if Colt would inevitably disappear into the maw of global network consolidation, but that prospect has definitely waned - although one can never tell. Lately I've speculated they might take the opposite route and do some consolidating of their own, and North America still looks like the best place for them to try something like that.
But Colt seems completely happy right now to take the organic route. They've been focusing on getting the new technology right rather than spending its time integrating legacy revenues and technologies together, and given the vast changes that automation has brought to networking perhaps they are right about that.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.