Telia Carrier Launches New SD-WAN Service Amid Growing Cisco Partnership

Telia Carrier has teamed up with Cisco Viptela to unveil a new SD-WAN service.

This is not the first time Telia has offered SD-WAN, but executives say this “advanced” version caters to businesses that have offices across the world. According to Telia, the solution is unique in how it attaches a customer’s WAN overlay to Telia’s internet backbone network.

Telia’s Staffan Göjeryd

“We see tremendous opportunities to help global enterprises with their digital transformation journeys through the ‘cloudification of networking’ — using a centralized, unified, cloud-based controller that covers the extended WAN environment, with the support of our backbone as the primary underlay and an award-winning customer experience,” Telia Carrier CEO Staffan Göjeryd said.

The Stockholm, Sweden-based is going for a hybrid approach to MPLS through its new solution, allowing customers to balance MPLS with internet. That fits well with a recent Gartner prediction that more than 80% of SD-WAN users will combine MPLS and/or Ethernet with internet connectivity.

Cisco’s Jean-Luc Valente

“SD-WAN has emerged as the connective tissue of the digital enterprise, enabling organizations to deliver applications to users with full visibility, control, security and performance across branches, campuses and clouds,” said Jean-Luc Valente, vice president of product management, managed services for Cisco’s intent-based networking group.

Telia said its parent organization, Telia Company, in 2017 became the first European service provider to deliver SD-WAN, which it offered through a partnership with Nokia-owned Nuage Networks. Telia said the new Cisco-affiliated solution provides “visibility, agility and control beyond the traditional WAN perimeter.”

“Telia Carrier’s new global SD-WAN managed service brings together Cisco’s leadership in SD-WAN and security with Telia Carrier’s powerful internet backbone to give customers an easy-to-deploy managed solution that keeps remote users secure and ensures a consistent user experience,” Valente said.

Customers can use a fully managed or co-managed model.

Vertical Systems Group’s Erin Dunne

“SD-WAN has the capability to deliver transformative results for organizations looking to harness the power of a cloud-based consumption model,” said Erin Dunne, Vertical Systems Group’s director of research. “Telia Carrier has a unique advantage as the operator of one of the world’s largest global internet backbones to simplify the adoption of SD-WAN using their established ecosystem. By combining the latest developments in SD-WAN with proven carrier solutions, Telia Carrier is addressing current migration challenges in this market.”

As of last month, Cisco’s NCS 5500 routing platform is powering Telia’s new Carrier Ethernet-ready network, which supports the Telia Carrier global backbone.

IT services provider ConvergeOne announced last month that Cisco Viptela would power its SD-WAN offering.