Level 3 Communications is using Cisco’s Network Services Orchestrator (NSO), enabled by Tail-f, to deliver on-demand Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) solutions.
Level 3 developed a programmable wide area network (WAN) that enables it to automate a range of data services and multivendor devices in its markets around the world. The company can also orchestrate the entire service lifecycle—including activation, testing and ongoing service-level assurance—through a single data model.
Level 3’s Adaptive Network Control Solutions suite, leverages network automation and SDN, which provides its customers with:
- Agile Hybrid Cloud Connectivity: Customers can order Ethernet services such as E-Line, E-Access and E-Lynk, Level 3’s public cloud connection service, with flexible bandwidth options.
- Level 3’s Dynamic Capacity: When customers order Level 3 Adaptive Network Control Solutions with Dynamic Capacity, the system can scale bandwidth up to 300 percent on demand, scheduled in advance or automatically based on configurable network threshold triggers.
- Optimized Data Backup and Recovery: Customers can schedule Dynamic Capacity for regular or ad-hoc events such as data replication. Level 3’s system can schedule additional capacity in advance on an hourly basis to ensure that the workload happens within the required time window.
- Accelerated time-to-market for new applications: With cloud connectivity between public and private infrastructure domains, Level 3 customers can quickly move applications from development to production.
- End-to-end visibility through Level 3’s Enhanced Management: Level 3 administrators and their customers can view granular real-time information about the performance and utilization of networks and services.
Level 3 noted that it now manages more than 75,000 different network devices around the world, and that it now supports the same automated services, with the same scalability, high availability and redundancy across geographies, regardless of the underlying infrastructure.
“The power of agility in today’s competitive marketplace is not overstated,” said Travis Ewert, senior vice president of network software development at Level 3. “Global businesses need network resources that are flexible enough to be leveraged as a service, with the reliability and security they can rely on to deliver critical business applications. With Cisco NSO, Level 3 is making the once-distant dream of full lifecycle service automation a reality for enterprises around the world.”
“Network resources on-demand represents a huge opportunity for service providers like Level 3 to remain innovative for their customers and competitive in the market,” said Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, general manager, service provider business, Cisco. “This transition to network automation using NSO, is a significant step for offering new opportunities and entering new markets.”
- Netrounds provides software-based network performance and service assurance solutions that help telecom operators to enhance the end-user experience of IP-based services such as Internet, TV, voice and other quality-demanding business services. The company is based in Lulea, Sweden.
- In May, Netrounds announced that its Netrounds Control Center and active Test Agents have successfully achieved Cisco compatibility certification with Network Services Orchestrator (NSO 4.1) and Elastic Services Controller (ESC 2.0).
