• New SDN-based services for German enterprise customer now available
• Rapid and secure connection for multinational business customers
• Uses the global ngena wholesale alliance to deliver international reach
• Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems is the first ngena partner to launch services

​​​​​​​Deutsche Telekom has announced that it is offering its corporate customers new services based on the global ngena network (Next Generation Enterprise Network Alliance), which it created with Cisco, SK Telecom and others just over a year ago. Ngena offers a wholesale model to partner telcos who are keen to deploy SDN and NFV-based services to their enterprise customers and would prefer not to build them themselves.

Ngena offers a hybrid VPN with additional service options and leverages the rapid spread of SDN and cloud technology. Its aim is to create a global business network that is easier to use, more stable, better scalable and less complex than any other solution in the market. All ngena partners share their networks and connect them to the global, standardised network.

Deutsche Telekom – which has already partnered with Cisco to offer SD-WAN services –says its customers can respond quicker to new business conditions by rolling out corporate networks and data connections as VPNs much faster than before.

The Deutsche Telekom subsidiary, T-Systems, is the first alliance partner to launch a network offering based on the ngena platform, and it is calling it “Smart SD-WAN powered by ngena”. The service is available in three access variants, depending on whether the network access is configured singly or redundantly, and whether it is provided via the Internet, Ethernet, or a combination of the two. The “Smart” SD-WAN offering supplements T-Systems’ existing IPVPN product, called IntraSelect.

“Network services that are quickly deployable, more secure, more powerful and global are the engine for the industrial production of the future and a growth area for Deutsche Telekom,” said Patrick Molck-Ude, who is responsible for network business for Deutsche Telekom’s corporate customers. “The global market for network access and transport services for corporate networks is already worth $50 billion and is increasing by 3.5 per cent annually.”

“The new global, digital business reality presents unique business connectivity challenges; for most enterprises, this means at least some version of SD WAN capability,” wrote Bruce Guptill, Executive Director and Principal Analyst, ISG Research, in a recent research paper. “We know that no single telecom carrier can adequately meet all of these end-to-end connectivity needs and deliver the best possible support and costs, as traditional carrier network and business models cannot support such variable customer needs while delivering the revenue that carriers require. Those carriers engaging in next-generation platform approaches within a “gain-share” style business model will be the ones that create the best opportunity for customers, and for themselves.”

Deutsche Telekom’s new ngena-based network product supports other services in addition to secure worldwide networking of company sites as VPNs. These include a secure regional gateway from the corporate networks to the Internet using firewalls, and the intelligent management of network traffic depending on priority class. The service is initially geared to enterprises with German procurement, although sales in other countries will gradually follow, along with additional access variants and a broader coverage of countries.

“The launch of the Deutsche Telekom offering is an important milestone for our young company,” said Marcus Hacke, Managing Director of ngena. “We are ensuring that ngena is connecting up more and more telecommunications providers worldwide.”

He explained that they are expanding their own network along with the access nodes worldwide. The first network nodes in Germany, the US, China and South Korea are already active.

“By the end of the year there should be around ten, providing us with more comprehensive coverage of the regions of North and South America, Europe and Asia,” Hacke added.

Along with Deutsche Telekom, SK Telekom and Cisco, other partners in ngena include operators CenturyLink, Reliance Jio, Altice, Portugal Telecom, Telstra and PCCW Global, as well as technology partners Comarch and Equinix. Hacke expects other partners to join soon.