Service Providers Set Sights On SDN

As the carriers worked to create more flexible and agile networks, several turned their attention to software-defined networking (SDN) technology to help them get there.

AT&T in October unveiled an SD-WAN service that business customers can use to prioritize and route traffic across their networks intelligently. CenturyLink announced plans to acquire particular SDN and NFV assets from Active Broadband Networks, a software-based broadband networking provider in June. EarthLink also got in on the action, rolling out its cloud-based SD-WAN Concierge service, a network management platform for customers in partnership with SD-WAN vendor VeloCloud in September.

VeloCloud's technology is also behind AT&T's SDN offering, a move that shows carriers are willing to partner to bring new software-defined network capabilities to market.