Colt Technology Services is working with Cisco to update its Colt IQ Network which serves mobile operators around the world.
Colt Technology Services says that this capability will support 5G services at “exceptional scale, data rates and low latencies, offering more flexible and cost-effective solutions”.
The Colt IQ Network is a high-bandwidth backbone that is present in major hubs around the globe as well as in main hyperscale data centres. Colt’s On Demand offer allows organisations to scale their bandwidth requirements up and down in near-real time.
Colt will deploy Cisco’s segment routing and Ethernet VPN (eVPN) based architecture to differentiate its 5G backhaul offering and shorten delivery time to customers.
Mobile service providers have to invest heavily in capital and operational expenditure when deploying 5G. Colt’s notion is to enable them to share connectivity costs but have individual service level agreements (SLAs) for their applications.
Simpler architecture
Peter Coppens, Vice President, Product Portfolio at Colt, said, “We have worked closely with Cisco to design a network architecture that is simple to operate, highly available and capable of delivering the innovative network services that are required for 5G.”
The two also claim this is a breakthrough in automating 5G backhaul requirements as it supports self-provisioned bandwidth scaling and guarantees adherence to SLAs for services or network slices, based on latency and bandwidth.
They say this is due to the combination of Cisco’s programmable-routing architecture for 5G services with the openness and programmability of the Colt IQ Network, which can be extended to customers directly, through standards-based APIs.
“With every new mobile technology comes complexity, and 5G is no different. We are proud to support Colt as a strategic partner in its mission to simplify 5G deployments,” said Sumeet Arora, SVP and GM Service Provider Routing Cisco.
Cloud economics
The partnership with Cisco will also enable Colt to support newer 5G deployment architectures using Cloud Radio Access Network (CloudRAN).
CloudRAN lowers operational costs through more efficient use of spectrum and radio resources, and “cost-optimised” antennas that need fewer site visits.
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