ADVA Optical Networking is providing United Kingdom-based systems integrator Axians UK with "risk-free access" to NFV services, including support for SD-WAN.

Axians UK, the VINCI Energies-owned ICT specialist, has specifically selected the ADVA Ensemble software suite to support standard applications such as SD-WAN, firewalls, and other network functions and applications for its enterprise and carrier customers. That’s because ADVA Ensemble provides a managed platform for hosting virtual network functions (VNFs) and user applications at customer sites.

Axians UK will use elements of the Ensemble suite including the Ensemble Connector, the NFV infrastructure (NFVi) software platform that ADVA acquired via its purchase of Overture Networks in 2016. The Ensemble software provides access to at least 50 commercial VNFs, including a virtual firewall, SD-WAN optimization, and IoT management, as well as a set of supported compute platforms.

Russell Crampin, managing director of Axians UK, said the platform will allow customers to dynamically select and manage VNFs rather than having to replace hardware at multiple sites when they change IT or network applications.

“This is especially important for our customers with an international footprint, especially the Tier 2 and 3 CSPs, financial institutions, logistics, and retail verticals,” Crampin, said. “As a part of this offering we’ll start with at least two qualified suppliers for SD-WAN, two for firewall, and two for the hosting servers, and grow all of those later.”

James Buchanan, general manager of edge cloud at ADVA, claimed that the use of the Ensemble software will allow Axians UK to offer businesses and CSPs “a way to achieve the efficiency and flexibility benefits of NFV with only minimal investment and virtually zero risk.”

Since acquiring Ensemble Connector, ADVA has participated in multiple trials to control optical network components using separate versions of the ONAP and the ONOS SDN controller. Dell EMC recently added the Ensemble software to its Virtual Edge Platform, giving enterprises access to the 50 VNFs in the portfolio.

Like Dell EMC, Axians has clearly honed in on the ADVA SD-WAN feature as interest grows in replacing or complementing complex WAN infrastructure. The company has previously partnered with Versa Networks and Silver Peak with a focus on SD-WAN support. The partnership with Versa recently led to the signing of a new customer in the form of technology service provider Zen Internet. Axians is offering technical integration and operations support for Zen as it takes Versa SD-WAN services to market.

While Europe was initially slower than North America to adopt SD-WAN, the consensus seems to be that the technology has now caught on in the region. Indeed, multiple carriers, from BT through to Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone are now offering managed SD-WAN services to their enterprise customers.

A report from Frost & Sullivan also suggested that there is a growing demand from enterprises to have the ability to centrally manage all enterprise sites. In a survey carried out in April 2018, more than half of the survey respondents said they planned to deploy SD-WAN in the next 12 to 24 months. The web-based survey was sent to European-based IT decision makers and returned responses from 276 companies.

Other key findings were that there is a strong preference for fully managed SD-WAN (almost 50% of respondents); that an SD-WAN service will reduce reliance on MPLS-only WAN; and enable hybrid WAN deployments that make the best use of public and private links.

IDC also carried out a survey on SD-WANs in the same period. According to Roz Parkinson, research manager for IDC’s European Telecoms and Networking, the proportion of respondents using SD-WAN had grown from 21% to 35% since 2017. “Enterprises are adopting SD-WAN for a variety of reasons, with flexibility and network optimization coming out on top,” Parkinson said.