Global Capacity has launched its Ethernet Multi-Cloud Connect Service, giving enterprises connectivity to five major cloud exchanges from a single port.
Two of the key advantages of this platform are scale and accelerating activation times.
Leveraging an interconnection architecture with software orchestration, the new service allows enterprises to simplify multi-Cloud connectivity and improve service performance.
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Global Capacity says this approach delivers a better user experience by allowing businesses to connect to Cloud locations or select from a list of interconnected One Marketplace Cloud destinations including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and 20 other Cloud providers on Equinix’s Cloud Exchange.
Mary Stanhope, VP of marketing for Global Capacity, told FierceTelecom that the new service allows enterprises to get an immediate connection to a cloud service of their choosing.
“We’re using our platform with the automation and the underlying physical connection to allow the buyer to design a circuit that goes all the way from their premise to the data center or cloud data center,” Stanhope said. “There’s a physical aspect to it, which we have done before, but this allows you to build those virtual EVCs to multiple locations.”
Stanhope said that the service can be used for various retail enterprise and even wholesale applications.
“Destinations can be cloud, including ones we’re already interconnected with, internet, or a VPN site,” Stanhope said. “In wholesale it could be a handoff to an E-NNI or an ICI so you can choose the destinations.”
Stanhope added that customers can get visibility into how the entire connection between their location and their destination looks while giving them control. From the service interface, a user could choose AWS, Equinix Cloud Exchange and other cloud providers.
“One of the interesting things we have been able to do is if it is an AWS, you’re able to take advantage of our understanding not on just the location, but across the meet me room and into the actual cloud servers,” Stanhope said. “We’re starting to take the full end-to-end design and present it as an option.”
But cloud services are just one part of Global Capacity’s strategy in its service drive. The service provider plans to also provide access to voice services over time.
“We’re going to have some other partners coming out, including our voice partners,” Stanhope said.
Streamlined ordering, QoS
By combining multidestination Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) and Global Capacity’s One Marketplace platform, Ethernet Multi-Cloud Connect streamlines commercial buying across the Cloud services ecosystem.
Every destination point with Ethernet Multi-Cloud connect can be connected via a dedicated Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC).
Stanhope said that while EVCs are commonplace, the differentiator is that Global Capacity can take out the guesswork in connecting to the cloud ecosystem.
“All of a sudden you’re in the same data center and you have to go through a meet me room with a cross connect panel and that delays what you’re trying to do,” Stanhope said. “We’re trying to streamline all of that, take what we know with what the pre-existing installs are and almost make that design transparent, easy to choose, and understand the price ramifications.”
Unlike best effort circuits sold by cable operators, Global Capacity said each point is configured separately with its own set of attributes, including bandwidth, destination port, and class of service.
Besides offering speed increments from 2 Mbps to 1 Gbps, some of the other advanced features of Ethernet Multi-Cloud Connect include support for Layer 2 packet and Layer 3 IP interconnections and customer control of EVC bandwidth redistribution in support of changing application usage.
Customers can also choose from three classes of service, including Standard, Priority and Real-time.
Ramping Ethernet reach
In tandem with the release of Ethernet Multi-Cloud Connect, Global Capacity recently upgraded 346 Central Offices (COs) to provide 1-100 Mbps Ethernet services.
By completing this expansion, Global Capacity increases the density of its Ethernet services footprint, making services available to an additional 302,188 new commercial addresses in 264 cities across 36 metro markets in 20 states.
The Ethernet expansion effort, which effectively doubles Global Capacity’s upgraded COs supporting Ethernet from 150 a year ago, is focused on network scale.
“It’s about how do we get proximity to the businesses,” Stanhope said. “If you think of our hybrid network strategy, how do you use whatever the right technology is for the access piece or do you use EoC plus asymmetrical Ethernet and get onto the network?”
Specifically, Global Capacity will offer two new services: EoC symmetrical speeds from 1-100 Mbps to 2.2 million businesses and Asymmetric Ethernet (AsyE), which will provide up to 50/10 Mbps.
“Prior to the upgrade, these COs had older equipment and were doing some of the original T-1 DSL that was acquired from Covad,” Stanhope said. “Based on demand and businesses in the area, we have taken those 346 COs and put in modern equipment so we can support 100 Mbps EoC and do asymmetric 50 Mbps."
Since EoC and AsyE are copper-based technologies, service availability is based on location. AsyE will offer class of service business-class uptime guarantees and MPLS and voice application support.
Additionally, network, cloud, application, and Over-the-Top (OTT) service providers can establish Ethernet Network-to-Network Interface (ENNI) agreements with Global Capacity’s One Marketplace to drive down access charges and reach more than 9.8 million business locations.
“Once you’re on the Global Capacity network, we’re taking you over guaranteed and dedicated bandwidth and our Ethernet pure packet backbone to whatever the destination is,” Stanhope said. “We layer on EVC and give you some control in terms of class of service and the virtual circuit, which means we’re offering more and more enterprise services.”