India-based telecommunications provider Tata Communications tapped Cisco’s Viptela-based SD-WAN for its enterprise WAN and cloud enablement platform. The joint offering will provide predictable routing, enterprise multi-cloud connectivity, and SD-WAN intelligent routing.

Tata’s cloud enablement platform, IZO, is built on top of its Tier 1 IP network and integrates with a number of cloud providers. It has global interconnect agreements with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce, and SAP, including regional internet service providers for an internet WAN service, and SD-WAN technology partners.

Tata also offers has a hybrid version of the IZO platform that integrates its internet WAN services and its global MPLS VPN with application management tools and security services.

According to Song Toh, vice president of network services at Tata Communications, adding Cisco to the IZO platform is an extension of the two companies’ partnership. Tata has previously integrated its network, cloud, hosting, security and voice services with Cisco’s.

The combination of Cisco’s Viptela-based SD-WAN with IZO is a fully-managed service. Toh referred to it as a “mature, high-performance SD-WAN solution for Cisco routers and with worldwide support,” adding that it provides more secure access to the cloud and greater control over infrastructure. The company claims it connects with cloud-based and on-premises applications in more than 150 countries.

This joint offering, says Toh, will serve customers who are migrating to cloud-centric applications and network architectures, allowing them to optimize WAN spending and implement a policy-based network. This is due to the platform’s ability to directly connect branch sites to the internet.

In addition, the offering will integrate with Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture (DNA) for Intent-Based Networking (IBN). Tata’s IZO platform with Cisco SD-WAN integrates with “the necessary DNA licenses to enable enterprises to implement and operate Cisco SD-WAN as a service, while eliminating the complexities that network transformation can bring,” said Toh.

The reason for the managed service, according to Toh, is that “adapting SD-WAN is not a standalone technology decision… With all our network services, such as IZO SD-WAN powered by Cisco, we look at not only the initial license sale or router deployments, but the customer’s entire network transformation journey.”

This is not Tata Communication’s first SD-WAN service. According to Toh, it has been offering SD-WAN services on IZO “for years.” The company has two additional SD-WAN services: IZO SD-WAN Prime, a patent-pending application-aware WAN service, and IZO SD-WAN Select is based on Versa Networks SD-WAN. Tata currently boasts more than 3,000 SD-WAN sites worldwide, he added.

“We evaluate our customers’ business and technology problems with them, and then propose not only the right SD-WAN platform, but also the most appropriate mix of connectivity options for optimal performance and cost,” Toh said.