Avaya Announces Software-Defined Data Center Framework and Roadmap

SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 21, 2013) -

• Leverages OpenStack's cloud operating system to deliver open, multi-resource service orchestration and automation
• Avaya Fabric Connect technology to be integrated into the OpenStack framework simplifying movement of Virtual Machines within and between Data Centers.
• Will enable enterprises and service providers to turn up cloud-based services in minutes with scalability up to 16 million tenanted applications

Avaya today announced its Software-Defined Data Center framework, which is designed to deliver productivity, agility and time-to-service enhancements to businesses operating highly virtualized data centers. The Avaya Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) framework aims to break down traditional data center silos that require weeks or months to turn up an application and replace it with a simple five-step process that takes minutes. Avaya will demonstrate this capability at VMworld 2013 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from August 25 - 29.

The Avaya SDDC framework includes an orchestration process that combines, customizes and commissions compute, storage and network components. Use of the OpenStack cloud computing platform will allow data center administrations to deploy virtual machines, assign storage and configure networks through a single graphical user interface. Avaya Fabric Connect further enhances the OpenStack environment by removing restrictions in traditional Ethernet VLAN / Spanning Tree-based networks to enable a more dynamic, flexible and scalable network services model than exists today.

The Avaya SDDC framework is based on the following components:

• Avaya Fabric Connect technology as the virtual backbone to interconnect resource pools within and between data centers with increased flexibility and scale
• An Avaya OpenStack Horizon-based Management Platform, delivering orchestration for compute (Nova), storage (Cinder/Swift) and network via Avaya Fabric Connect (Neutron)
• Open APIs into the Avaya Fabric Connect architecture for ease of integration, customization and interoperability with other Software-Defined Networking architectures

The Avaya SDDC framework can ultimately provide the following benefits to businesses:

• Reduced Time-to-Service: cloud services enabled in minutes through a five-step process
• Simplified Virtual Machine Mobility: simple end-point provisioning enabling virtual machine mobility within and between geographically dispersed data centers
• Multi-Vendor Orchestration: coordinated allocation of data center resources via a single interface to streamline the deployment of applications
• Scale-out Connectivity: services scale to more than 16 million unique services, up from the limitation of 4000 in traditional Ethernet networks
• Secure Multi-Tenancy: leveraging network, compute and storage layer abstraction and isolation
• Improved Network Flexibility: overcomes current VLAN challenges to deliver a load-balanced, loop-free network where any logical topology can be built, independent of the physical layout

Avaya's Software-Defined Data Center framework is the first phase of Avaya's Software-Defined Networking roadmap. Avaya Fabric Connect is available today on a wide range of networking platforms including Virtual Service Platform 9000, Ethernet Routing Switch 8800, Virtual Services Platform 7000 and Virtual Services Platform 4000. The Avaya Horizon-based Management Platform and open APIs will be generally available next year. Future initiatives include the extension of Fabric Connect and Orchestration to deliver end-to-end service creation and delivery from data center to desktop.

Quotes
"In many ways this is a logical evolution of Avaya's Data Center networking portfolio. Having executed on its vision of using Fabric Connect (based on enhanced Shortest Path Bridging) as an end-to-end architecture, it only makes sense to wrap it with an orchestration and automation enabler like OpenStack. This is a natural and powerful extension for Avaya, and their present and future customers will surely embrace it."
-Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure, IDC

"This is has the potential to be a game-changer for Fiducia. Complex and rigid networking are at odds with the advances that are commonplace in compute and storage. Fabric Connect's real-time provisioning capability is a key differentiator and creates an opportunity to extend into innovative areas such as end-to-end orchestration and provisioning, which we believe are cornerstones of tomorrow's automated data center."
-Wolfgang Boschert, Head of Security & LAN Infrastructure, Fiducia IT AG

"Avaya continues to innovate the way that networks are designed, built and operated, leveraging the unique capabilities of our Fabric Connect technology. This announcement demonstrates that enterprises can immediately realize the operational benefits of real-time orchestration and automation. While some remain hung-up on definitions of SDN and what it might to deliver in the future, Avaya is delivering tangible business benefits today."
-Marc Randall, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Avaya Networking

Additional Resources
Avaya Software Defined Data Center
Avaya: Delivering Agile, Automated Cloud Services
ZK Research Whitepaper: The Software-Defined Data Center is Key to IT-as-a-Service
Avaya Connected blog: Data Center Automation - Why are we still sending humans to do the job of machines?
Packet Pushers Podcast: Software Defined Data Center and Fabric Connect

Tags: Avaya, Avaya Fabric Connect, OpenStack, software defined networking, SDN, Shortest Path Bridging, networking, virtualization, fabric networking, data center

About Avaya
Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications software and services, providing unified communications, contact centers, networking and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

Certain statements contained in this press release may be forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should" or "will" or other similar terminology. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these are reasonable, such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to Avaya's filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. Avaya disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

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