TCTS, Fortinet Launch SD-WAN Managed Services for Microsoft Azure
Tata Communications Transformation Services Limited (TCTS), partner of Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Limited, and Fortinet, working with Microsoft Azure, has launched a fully managed SD-WAN offering for Azure Virtual WAN.
The TCTS SD-WAN offering is expected to help service providers create solutions to further enable enterprises with seamless migration to Azure, thereby helping to accelerate their revenue in IT migration to public clouds. This joint offering will also enable inter-branch connectivity for customers using the Microsoft backbone and help them to meet SLAs while securing access to applications running on Azure. This offering is a native hybrid SD-WAN coupled with traffic steering and security protection for Azure’s cloud.
In collaboration with Azure, Fortinet and Equinix, TCTS has augmented Azure’s current Virtual WAN offering in which application policies can be centrally configured using Fortinet’s SD-WAN technologies integrated with Equinix Network Edge to create Virtual Network Services that deliver enhanced performance and security protection. As part of the larger TCTS Cloud Networking-as-a-Service (CNaaS) portfolio, the offering utilizes industry product partners with TCTS’ virtualization consulting, deployment and operation services.
As cloud complexity continues to grow, enterprises are grappling with the many functions, gateways, configuration, segmentation and monitoring of Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) across Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) data centers, regions and worldwide deployments. Configuration of SD-WAN, VPNs, routing tables, security, gateways and hybrid connectivity within a public cloud continues to be a problem area for most enterprises. Additionally, as the cloud expands to the edge, including managed network connections between the clouds and service providers (ex: Azure ExpressRoute, etc.), cloud complexity will be even more challenging to configure and operate.
Through this offering, enterprises at any given site can use a hybrid deployment of MPLS and Internet to steer the traffic between mission critical traffic (MPLS and Carrier Ethernet) and non-mission critical traffic (Internet), which further connects directly to Azure via Azure ExpressRoute. This connection can be established leveraging TCTS’ highly commended platform, ‘Virtual Cloud exchange,’ for building within native service provider environments or white-labeled options using the Equinix’ Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™) and Network Edge solution offerings within their data centers globally.
TCTS' Virtual Cloud Exchange (US patent pending) automates connection and management to Azure and other public cloud delivered via a fully managed turn-key white-label solution for CSPs worldwide. With this service from TCTS, service providers can enable Azure enterprise customers to choose either a standard offering that needs no further SD-WAN Virtual Network Function (VNF) in Azure, or a more advanced option that places a SD-WAN VNF in Azure to deliver SD-WAN application traffic steering and security protection.
TCTS will provide customers with professional services for Azure CNaaS capabilities in:
- Planning - Business requirement, cloud strategy consulting, cloud assurance assessment, cloud migration planning and cloud security planning, data governance and risk compliance
- Deployment - Proof of concepts, cloud SaaS, IaaS and PaaS trials, cloud VPC configuration, cloud training, cloud migration, optimization and cloud policies
- Operations - 365X7X24 operations, technical support, remediation, change management, privilege access management, cloud monitoring and device management and new product & services integration