Juniper Networks announced today that its SDN controller, Contrail, is being deployed by tcp cloud, a cloud-computing provider based in the Czech Republic.

Contrail utilizes software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) to enhance automation and orchestration in physical and virtual infrastructures, giving tcp cloud the ability to create high-density private clouds for users more quickly. With the help of Juniper Contrail, tcp cloud claims, customer deliverables will be closer to one week, rather than the six weeks it offers now.

During a proof of concept (PoC) trial, Contrail fared better than expected, as tcp cloud says it saw network bandwidth spike to 15 Gb/s from 4 Gb/s. The Contrail implementation will be added to tcp cloud's existing deployment of Juniper’s MetaFabric architecture — which got another customer testimonial recently from NIKE as part of that company's plans to enhance its virtualized data centers. MetaFabric includes the MX, EX, and QFX switching and routing lines, as well as Juniper's SRX security platform.

Controller competition is increasing, as Brocade announced its own SDN controller today, one that will be OpenDaylight-based. Despite being one of the top sponsors of OpenDaylight, Juniper seemed uninterested in contributing to the project until last spring, when the company floated the OpenContrail plug-in proposal.