New IZO platform combines public and private connections for greater flexibility with predictable performance.

October 29, 2014

3 Min Read
Tata Tackles Hybrid Cloud Connections

Tata Communications today debuted its approach to offering flexible connectivity for cloud services with IZO, a platform that delivers multiple flavors of public Internet connections as well as dedicated private connections, all aimed at global enterprises with diverse endpoints for their cloud applications. (See Tata Launches Public-Private Cloud Connectivity Platform.)

Like many of its competitors, Tata Communications Ltd. is seeing increased demand for flexible yet predictable and secure connectivity for virtualized enterprise applications, says John Hayduk, president of product management and service development for Tata Communications, in an interview with Light Reading. As groups within the enterprise use more public cloud services to support these applications, existing networking arrangements, whether public Internet or private connections, often are being used in ways that were inefficient as guaranteeing security often means backhauling traffic to internal firewalls, an expensive and inefficient as traffic volumes grows, he notes.

"It was okay when there was a small volume of traffic, but the overall design of their networks doesn't hold water anymore," Hayduk says.

See how telecom data center strategies are evolving on our data center channel here at Light Reading.

What Tata Communications is offering with IZO is a trio of service possibilities, including an IZO Internet WAN, IZO Private and IZO Public options. The Internet WAN uses partnerships with 20 ISPs globally to deliver virtual private network-based connections with predictable performance and security built into a flexible Internet service that comes with a service-level agreement. That enables multinational enterprises to reach a widely scattered set of endpoints.

IZO Private offers dedicated private connections, initially to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, but eventually to many more well-established public clouds, he notes. And IZO Public combines Internet flexibility with traffic prioritization for maximum performance.

"More and more companies are moving to hybrid cloud models," Hayduk comments. "We wanted to look at how we can redo their network architecture and deliver them a better solution that is at least the same performance at a better cost, or even a better performance."

Most major global service providers have revamped their service portfolio to both add flexibility in support of hybrid cloud services and to increase efficiency or make services available on-demand or in a pay-as-you go model. Tata is instead stressing the value of a global Internet connection that adds a service level agreement for performance. That, layered on top of its global footprint, gives Tata Communications what Hayduk believes is a first-mover advantage. (See AT&T NetBond Getting Amazon Ties, Verizon Puts Cloud Customers in Control and CenturyLink Launches Private Cloud Services in 57 Data Centers.)

"We operate the fourth-largest global IP network," he says, and that network goes into some places where there is little to no competition.

Tata Communications also believes it can help enterprises save money by breaking out the public Internet traffic from the cost of dedicated private connections, and allowing its enterprise customers to match the network service to the specific requirements of its virtualized applications.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading

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