Ciena’s Blue Planet Dynamically Connects to a Variety of Clouds

Linda HardestyJune 28, 2018
9:51 am PT

CoreSite Realty, a provider of data center and interconnection solutions in the United States, is enhancing its Open Cloud Exchange platform using Ciena’s Blue Planet Multi-Domain Service Orchestrator (MDSO).

The CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange provides customers with direct access to public and private clouds, including AWS Direct Connect, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, Alibaba Cloud, Faction, and PacketFabric. CoreSite also has direct connectivity partnerships with leading service providers. And it supports both fiber and Ethernet-based interconnection.

The company plans to have enhancements to its Open Cloud Exchange fully operational in early July. Additional features will include support for single port connections to Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, improved capacity management capabilities, and support for 100 Gb/s connections.

Ciena’s Blue Planet MDSO will enable CoreSite’s customers to dynamically interconnect to a variety of cloud providers via an on-demand portal. And Blue Planet’s network automation capabilities will give CoreSite’s customers the ability to adjust bandwidth to a particular cloud service provider to match fluctuating demands.

Blue Planet supports a number of network operators across the globe including traditional service providers such as Orange Business Services  Windstream, and Dark Fibre Africa.

Of the deal with CoreSite, Rick Hamilton, senior vice president of global software and services with Ciena, said in an email to SDxCentral, “This is a unique but growing use case deployment for our Blue Planet software. It shows how Blue Planet can help data center providers automate cloud exchange services.” He added that it “also creates opportunities to up-sell and expand their value to customers beyond traditional space and power applications.”

In May, Ciena announced it is buying Packet Design in a move to boost its Blue Planet software platform. The Austin, Texas-based Packet Design brings network performance management software focused on Layer 3 network optimization, topology, and route analytics.