AT&T working with Brocade and Cisco on NFV and SDN development

AT&T is working with Cisco and Brocade, in separate joint development efforts to create more services with virtualization technologies. The aim is to enable faster installations and to make fuller use of the potential of the equipment on customer premises, it says.

AT&T says it is working with Cisco, which has 100 visualization offerings, to help it to extend the reach of its Network on Demand platform using software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) techniques. The software within existing customer premise equipment (CPE) still has massive potential that can be realised with Cisco’s software, according to Cisco’s chief development officer Pankaj Patel. “Cisco’s portfolio of virtualized network functions with AT&T’s could deliver on the promise of virtualization,” said Patel.

Meanwhile, Brocade has announced that joint visualization developments with AT&T have created a way to make routing functions run in the cloud. AT&T is remaining tight lipped about details of potential new products and services emerging from its partnerships.

“We’re working with Brocade to enhance our Managed Internet Service on Demand, so customers don’t need a router at their location. With the support of their technology, customers will experience faster installations and more dynamic control of their network service,” said Roman Pacewicz, senior VP for AT&T’s Marketing and Global Strategy.