AT&T on Track for 100% Core Network Virtualization Next Year

AT&T has achieved a network virtualization milestone, with 75% of MPLS tunnel traffic on its core network now controlled by SDN, and is on track to hit 100% next year. The carrier replaced physical appliances that needed manual reset by operators with automated, internally developed software controllers, for increased cost savings and improved speed to reconfigure and deploy new services, Mike Paradise, AT&T VP network cloud and infrastructure operations, tells Light Reading. MPLS tunnels are key components of AT&T's core network, carrying its US mobile, broadband and enterprise traffic. The tunnels determine what physical traffic will take between cities."Those paths are traditionally hard-coded into the elements," Paradise says. "What's important is we now have an SDN controller." The controller consumes network control plane information, and manipulates traffic on both logical and physical paths on the optical and packet networks.