Avaya, Steel ORCA Plan Software-Defined Data Center

PRESS­­ RELEASE – SANTA CLARA, CA and MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ–(Marketwired – Jul 6, 2015) – Avaya and Steel ORCA today announced a strategic relationship to build a next-generation software-defined data center. Steel ORCA will standardize its data center architecture on Avaya Fabric Connect, setting the stage for rolling out the complete Avaya SDN Fx architecture later this year.

Opening this year, Steel ORCA’s state of the art Digital Utility Center is one of the newest and most technologically advanced data centers in the U.S. The company provides colocation, managed services and cloud solutions on a global basis, emphasizing the responsiveness, reliability and resiliency of its data center services.

Cloud service providers and data center operators such as Steel ORCA are building next-generation facilities using fabric-based SDN architectures as a way to meet the complex demands of delivering global cloud services. Avaya SDN Fx will allow Steel ORCA to add new customers and application services quickly and simply as their business — and that of their customers — grows. 

With a commitment to staying agile in an ever-evolving, turbulent business climate, Steel ORCA chose to implement the end-to-end mesh technology of Avaya Fabric Connect over a traditional box-by-box architecture. Avaya Fabric Connect enables Steel ORCA to enforce its commitment by providing agility needed to turn up or change services for multiple clients on the fly — without needing to touch the network core. Multi-tenancy capabilities within Avaya Fabric Connect will help the company provide more secure, segmented networks within their data center operations, and extend an increased level of digital security for customers.

Steel ORCA’s implementation of Avaya Fabric Connect sets the stage for a full Avaya SDN Fx deployment later this year. The Avaya SDN Fx architecture is the first to deliver automation and programmability from the network core to the user edge, providing "connect anything, anywhere" simplicity to both Steel ORCA and its customers. An ideal foundation on which to build Internet of Everything strategies, this extensibility makes it much easier to accommodate and configure the escalating number of intelligent devices and users at the edge that need to be connected.

Quotes
"Many companies talk about being agile, but true agility can only be achieved through a constant focus on simplifying the organization and its underlying infrastructure, without compromising its resiliency. When we looked at traditional networking solutions with their associated costs and complexity, we knew we had to move in the direction of SDN using a fabric-based architecture. Avaya SDN Fx and Avaya Fabric Connect technologies simplify network administration for us — which is critical in a demanding co-location and cloud computing environment — improve network resiliency and security for our clients, and reduce operating costs. We think that’s a pretty powerful combination."
Richard Craig, CTO, Steel ORCA

"Competitive pressures are driving businesses to deliver unique, reliable services while reducing costs, maintaining high levels of security and to do it faster than anyone else. Companies seeking this competitive edge can find it within Steel ORCA’s unique environmental approach to creating a Digital Utility Center. By using Avaya’s SDN Fx architecture with Fabric Connect, Steel ORCA breaks the mold to offer unparalleled value, speed and resiliency to customers via their best-in-class, next-generation data center architecture."
Jean Turgeon (JT), chief technology architect, SDN, Avaya

Tags: Avaya, Steel ORCA, data center, digital utility, fabric networking, SDN, cloud

About Avaya
Avaya is a leading provider of solutions that enable customer and team engagement across multiple channels and devices for better customer experience, increased productivity and enhanced financial performance. Its world-class contact center and unified communications technologies and services are available in a wide variety of flexible on-premises and cloud deployment options that seamlessly integrate with non-Avaya applications. The Avaya Engagement Environment enables third parties to create and customize business applications for competitive advantage. Avaya’s fabric-based networking solutions help simplify and accelerate the deployment of business critical applications and services. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

About Steel ORCA
Steel ORCA is a thought leader in the emerging and high growth Data Center industry, and is demonstrating its long-term vision for the future potential of making Digital Utility Environments a reliable, economical and technically-advanced reality. Steel ORCA is proud and committed to providing the required know-how and experience for navigating and managing change that constantly challenges its clients with the ability to grow, adapt, update and advance within the technology road map of power, computing, communications,
IT services, and security.

Steel ORCA provides Data Center capabilities that support small, midsize, and enterprise businesses located in New York, New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania. The breadth and depth of services and solutions including wholesale and retail colocation (power, space, connectivity, and security), cloud, and managed services offers clients a local, single source provider of results-driven IT solutions that create operational efficiencies and predictable cost structures for their business. For more information visit www.steelorca.com