Masergy, which owns and operates an independent global cloud networking platform for enterprises, has commercially deployed pure-play network functions virtualization (NFV) at the edge of its network using technology from Overture, Brocade, Fortinet and Intel.
The deployment provides Masergy with greater agility, enabling it to deliver new and advanced premium services quickly and easily.
“Our primary focus is on service agility and our pure-play NFV deployment sets the stage for immediate response to customer requests,” said Tim Naramore, Masergy’s chief technology officer. “Masergy has long been an innovator, providing our customers with solutions that give them real-time control and the ability to get the services they need, when they want them. With this launch, we’re adding incredibly agile and flexible solutions to our Managed Network f(n) family of distributed, fully managed network functions.”
Masergy’s NFV deployment, Virtual f(n) comprises virtualized network services at the edge of the network and is based on the Overture Ensemble Carrier Ethernet (ECE), Brocade Vyatta 5600 vRouter and Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewall virtualized network functions (VNFs) running on the Overture 65vSE VNF compute node platform, based on the Intel Atom processor, at the customer premise.
“The promise of pure software-based NFV has become a reality. Other operators have been taking a hybrid approach, using software functionality in existing Layer 2 devices or leveraging proprietary features in backbone switching equipment to deliver NFV-like services,” said Prayson Pate, Overture’s chief technology officer. “Masergy’s deployment, with our Ensemble Carrier Ethernet platform as the foundation, shows how a completely software-defined NFV environment can deliver performance comparable to today’s hardware-based solutions.”
“We work closely with Intel Network Builders members, including Overture, to ensure that their NFV solutions meet the stringent requirements of operator networks,” said Lynn Comp, Director of Market Development, Intel Network Platforms Group. “These collaborative efforts with the ecosystem have helped service providers understand the many benefits of running virtual network functions on open, Intel architecture-based systems in their deployments.”
