Verizon today announced the launch of Software-Defined Interconnect (SDI), a solution that works with Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™), offering organizations with a Private IP network direct connectivity to 115 Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX ^®) data centers (DC’s) around the globe within minutes.

Verizon claims its new Private IP service [1]  provides a faster, more flexible alternative to traditional interconnectivity, which requires costly buildouts, long lead times, complex provisioning and often truck rolls: APIs are used to automate connections and, often, reduce costs, boasts Verizon.  The telco said in a press release:

SDI addresses the longstanding challenges associated with connecting premises networks to colocation data centers. To do this over traditional infrastructure requires costly build-outs, long lead times and complex provisioning. The SDI solution leverages an automated Application Program Interface (API) to quickly and simply integrate pre-provisioned Verizon Private IP bandwidth via ECX Fabric, while eliminating the need for dedicated physical connectivity. The result is to make secure colocation and interconnection faster and easier for customers to implement, often at a significantly lower cost.

Note 1.  Private IP is an MPLS-based VPN service that provides a simple network designed to grow with your business and help you consolidate your applications into a single network infrastructure. It gives you dedicated, secure connectivity that helps you adapt to changing demands, so you can deliver a better experience for customers, employees and partners.

Private IP uses Layer 3 networking to connect locations virtually rather than physically. That means you can exchange data among many different sites using Permanent Virtual Connections through a single physical port. Our MPLS-based VPN solution combines the flexibility of IP with the security and reliability of proven network technologies.

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“SDI is an addition to our best-in-class software-defined suite of services that can deliver performance ‘at the edge’ and support real-time interactions for our customers,” said Vickie Lonker, vice president of product management and development for Verizon. “Think about how many devices are connected to data centers, the amount of data generated, and then multiply that when 5G becomes ubiquitous. Enabling enterprises to virtually connect to Verizon’s private IP services by coupling our technology with the proven ECX Fabric makes it easy to provision and manage data-intensive network traffic in real time, lifting a key barrier to digital transformation.”

Verizon’s private IP – MPLS network is seeing high double-digit traffic growth year-over-year, and the adoption of colocation services continues to proliferate as more businesses grapple with complex cloud deployments to achieve greater efficiency, flexibility and additional functionality in data management.

“Verizon’s new Software Defined Interconnect addresses one of the leading issues for organizations by improving colocation access. This offer facilitates a reduction in network and connectivity costs for accessing colocation data centers, while promoting agility and innovation for enterprises. This represents a competitive advantage for Verizon as it applies SDN technology to improve interconnecting its Private IP MPLS network globally,” said Courtney Munroe, group vice president at IDC.

“With Software-Defined Interconnect, a key barrier to digital transformation has been lifted. By allowing enterprises to virtually connect to Verizon’s private IP services using the proven ECX Fabric, SDI makes secure colocation and interconnection easier – and more financially viable – to implement than ever before,” said Bill Long, vice president, interconnection services at Equinix [2].

Note 2. Equinix Internet Exchange™ enables networks, content providers and large enterprises to exchange internet traffic through the largest global peering solution across 52 markets.

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Expert Opinion:

SDI is an incremental addition to Verizon’s overall strategy of interconnecting with other service providers to meet customer needs, as well as virtualizing its network, says Brian Washburn, an analyst at Ovum (owned by Informa as is LightReading and many other market research firms).

“Everything can be dynamic, everything can be made pay-as-you-go, everything can be controlled as a series of virtual resources to push them around the network as you need it, when you need it,” Washburn says.

For Equinix, the Verizon deal builds its gravitational pull. “It pulls in assets and just connects as many things to other things as possible. It is a virtuous circle. The more things they get into their data centers, the more resources they have there, that pulls in more companies to connect to the resources,” Washburn says. Equinix is standardizing its APIs to make interconnections easily.

SDI is similar to CenturyLink Dynamic Connections, which connects enterprises directly to public cloud services. And telcos are building interconnects with each other; for example, AT&T with Colt. “I expect we’ll see more of this sort of automation taking advantage of Equinix APIs,” Washburn says.

Microsoft also provides a virtual WAN service to connect enterprises to Azure. “It’s a different story, but it falls into the broader category of automation between network operators and cloud services,” Washburn said.

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Verizon manages 500,000+ network, hosting, and security devices and 4,000+ networks in 150+ countries. To find out more about how Verizon’s global IP network, managed network services and Software-Defined Interconnect work please visit:

https://enterprise.verizon.com/products/network/connectivity/private-ip/