ePLDT to elevate customer experience with adoption of SDN tech in its data centers

ePLDT, an industry-leading provider of digital business solutions to enterprises in the Philippines, recently announced that it has deployed best-in-class Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology in its network of data centers. This is part of the company’s drive to elevate customer experience as SDN enables quick adoption to changing business trends and efficiency in controlling network resources.

“Businesses are looking for smarter and more agile infrastructure to support their digital transformation initiatives. This demand is obviously brought by emerging trends such as cloud computing, mobile technology, Big Data analytics, and the rise of the Internet of Things. All these have transformed the IT paradigm and accelerated the need for infrastructure that can support rapid shifts in demand. With the backdraft of natural and man-made disasters, we have also seen growth for geo-resiliency among enterprises which will need rapid network configuration and deployment. SDN will simplify configuration, control and management of enterprise networks," said Nerisse Ramos, ePLDT Group Chief Operating Officer. “By enabling our VITRO Data Centers with SDN, our entire infrastructure can address these needs with enhanced efficiency, flexibility, and security.”

Traditionally, data center networks are comprised of a large number of switches and routers that direct traffic based on the limited view of each device. This feature makes data centers independent from one another. Managing configurations and the protocols associated with it must therefore be done in various places which can be time-consuming and expensive.

SDN is an approach to networking in which control of network policies and resources are decoupled through a single SDN controller. Because of the open-source nature of the controller, organizations can utilize commodity hardware from multiple vendors without compromising performance. “With this approach, traffic flow is managed through software, allowing optimization and tuning which is not available in traditional or locally-managed switches and routers. Clients who demand certain changes and updates to their subscribed service can now receive them immediately and in an efficient manner,” explained Nico Alcoseba, PLDT/ePLDT Head of Disruptive Business.

Scalable connectivity and secure delivery at a faster pace
Through SDN, a single management console with better visibility into network resources simplifies planning, and the setting up of networks, whether real or virtual. Policies can be changed quickly and easily to manage traffic loads, automatically reallocate network resources, and add devices. As a result, SDN provides organizations with the flexibility and agility to respond to market conditions and customer needs while dramatically improving management efficiency.

Faster service delivery is achieved through SDN as services such as load balancers, firewalls, and Intrusion Detection Systems are placed appropriately on the traffic path, thereby allowing users to customize their own services based on their actual needs. Security is also assured as SDNs can handle increasing security demands that are not possible with hard-wired networks.

“With SDN, we can provide our services to clients faster,” said Dave Simon, ePLDT Group Chief Technology Officer. “Our previous provisioning standard to our clients may range anywhere between 5 and 15 days depending on the scope but now with SDN, our standard services can be provisioned to customers in a matter of hours.”

Change for the future
For the country’s leading data center services provider in the country—with 10 data centers by 2018—this shift to SDN technology is just one of the company’s many innovations in its effort to provide high-quality service and superior customer experience.

This shift also makes ePLDT at pace with the latest global trends. According to a study by the International Data Corporation, the worldwide data center SDN market is expected to reach $12.5 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53.9% from 2014 to 2020.

“With its benefits, we believe that SDN is the future when it comes to networking,” said Ramos. “As a pacesetter in data center management, we ensure that our facilities and systems are up-to-date. In this way, our clients are assured of service at par with global technology standards.”

Know more about ePLDT, Inc. by visiting the website at www.epldt.com.