A closer look at Lumen's 'deceptively simple' interconnect platform with Google, Microsoft

Service provider Lumen Technologies launched a data center interconnect (DCI) service, ExaSwitch, this week, together with Google and Microsoft.

The platform will become even easier to "automate, scale and manage capacity between the members" as more participants utilize ExaSwitch, said Lumen. Participants can include ISPs, cloud providers, large content providers and enterprises that need to connect their edge sites, data centers and central offices.

ExaSwitch routes network traffic between participants' networks without the need for assistance from other third-party cloud providers or via manual cross connects. Lumen said the platform improves diversity and reduces costs on cross connects.

The DCI platform routes traffic between large Internet and cloud networks and is currently being utilized by four participants: Lumen, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and an unnamed cloud service provider.

CTO Andrew Dugan told Light Reading that a "relatively small number of really high-scale networks can take advantage" of this service, which he described as an optical switching matrix installed in metro areas.

"So take, for example, Chicago, we put an optical switch, it's essentially a ROADM [reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer], but it's an all optical switch that we install in a Lumen facility," added Dugan. "So for Microsoft, or Google, we would go out to their locations in Chicago, install the electronics and then connect it via fiber back to this optical switch that sits in our facility."

Lumen's Dugan said instead of using a physical location to connect, large network backbones can use optical switching to establish high-capacity optical links between metro locations. In addition to Internet peering, ExaSwitch will provide "an on-demand network connection" to quickly add capacity for customers, he said.

"Creating a geographically distributed yet automated interconnection platform creates so many options to improve connectivity, resiliency, and speed to add capacity on to one's network," said Frank Rey, partner for Azure Networking with Microsoft, in a statement.

A 'deceptively simple' service

While ExaSwitch appears to be a "deceptively simple" DCI platform, it's been a long time coming, Lynda Stadtmueller, research VP and global practice area leader of information & communications technology at Frost & Sullivan, told Light Reading.

Lumen's ExaSwitch is probably a lot simpler to manage than attempting to complete a monochromatic puzzle.
(Source: Artur Marciniec/Alamy Stock Photo)

"[ExaSwitch] is pretty unique. All the telecom service providers are focusing on pulling together elements of this, implementing software-defined networks that enable automated, on-demand capacity allocation," said Stadtmueller. "But with this, you don't need to even be a Lumen customer to use this service."

For Lumen's SDN-based ExaSwitch to come to fruition, the stars had to align just right. Fortunately for Lumen, virtualization in telco networks is maturing as hyperscalers are acquiescing to enterprise demand for a simpler multicloud experience.

According to a recent Frost & Sullivan survey of 894 IT professionals, enterprises use on average 2.3 public cloud providers. In an increasingly multicloud environment, hyperscalers are becoming more open to assisting enterprise customers in accessing multiple clouds. (Complete survey available upon request to Frost & Sullivan.)

"With all of the big providers, the hyperscale cloud providers, software-as-a-service providers and big tech companies, there's an urgency to support the massive amounts of data fueling Internet of Things, industrial IoT and edge-base solutions," said Stadtmueller. "They need massive amounts of data and it's not all sitting in one place, it needs to be freely moved as needed with the right capacity and amount of latency. There's a lot of trends converging."

How ExaSwitch is deployed

ExaSwitch participants can select on-demand capacity at 400G and 100G levels, backed by "multiple tens of terabits of capacity at each location," said Dugan. Connections are established in 400G increments and consumed on-demand in 100G increments. Each site has up to 25.6 Tbit/s of optical cross connects.

To launch the platform, Lumen, which will be the administrator for initial deployments, installs optical hardware at the customer's requested location. Participants utilize a fiber source of their choosing, whether its fiber on Lumen's network or from another service provider.

Two participants can then connect through self-provisioning or an API portal that the administrator manages. Participants can configure and add capacity to their network through a self-service portal.

ExaSwitch currently operates in three of the largest interconnection hubs, Chicago, Dallas and Virginia. Lumen plans to expand the service to additional large Internet hubs in North America as early as later this year, said Dugan. Frost & Sullivan's Stadtmueller predicts that the next hub supported by ExaSwitch could be in the New York or New Jersey area, followed by San Francisco.

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— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading