AT&T is preparing to launch a “Network on Demand” capability that lets business customers order, add, or modify Ethernet WAN services on-demand via a portal.
AT&T said its new capability will be the first such software-defined networking solution of its kind in the United States when it launches later this year in Austin. A trial has been underway at the University of Texas at Austin since June.
Beyond Austin, AT&T is planning to deploy this and other new Network on Demand-enabled services, including Internet and virtual private network, in additional markets starting in 2015.
AT&T said key benefits of its “Network on Demand” include:
- Intuitive and immediate click-through contracting and ordering of network services
- Dialing up or dialing down broadband speeds in near real time instead of hours or days
- Provisioning new communications ports in days compared to weeks
“By enabling companies to easily and immediately provision network services on their own, we’re creating a truly world-class customer experience,” said Roman Pacewicz, AT&T Senior Vice President – Marketing and Global Strategy. “Our new Network on Demand service will do for corporate networks what the cloud did for management of corporate data centers.”
SDN-powered Ethernet services are part of AT&T’s User-Defined Network Cloud strategy, which was first announced in February.
AT&T’s User-Defined Network Cloud program, which aims to transform not only the company’s infrastructure but how AT&T does business.
The User-Defined Network Cloud will place customers at the center of the network with a modern, cloud-based architecture.
“The architecture and deployment teams are finalizing their planned introduction of this new architecture, which we expect to roll out later this year and early 2015,” said Tim Harden, president, AT&T Supply Chain. “We look forward to collaborating with Fujitsu and Alcatel-Lucent to achieve our next-generation network.”
