1. QUARTERLY
REVIEWOCTOBER - DECEMBER 2016
SD-WANDISRUPTIVE, TRANSFORMATIVE...
A GAME CHANGER!
CAPITALIZING ON GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
ACROSS EMERGING MARKETS CORRIDOR
WITH FAST EDGE AND CLOUD X WAN
GCX AND BMC UK DELIVER
2018 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
MATCH TO FANS IN EUROPE
GCX EXPANDS CLOUD ECOSYSTEM WITH
MICROSOFT AZURE EXPRESSROUTE
RCOM AND MCB ANNOUNCE
LARGEST EVER CONSOLIDATION IN
INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR
2. MEET
THE
FORCE
BEHIND
DIGITAL
The world is on an exciting digital journey.
From financial transactions to governance, from retail to healthcare, new possibilities are endless. The digital world is
more connected, more efficient, more convenient and more environment-sensitive. As India embarks on its digital
journey, Reliance is The Force behind making this vision a reality!
With a network spanning 285,000 route km from India across the globe; 10 world-class Data Centers; a revolutionary
CLOUD X portfolio; and a wide bouquet of Enterprise Communications solutions, Reliance Communications (RCOM)
and its global subsidiary Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) are helping Enterprises, SMEs and government agencies achieve
their digital dreams.
As The Force behind digital, we are opening new frontiers and delivering a truly next generation digital galaxy today.
EMPOWERING DIGITAL INDIA
Call us: 1800 200 111 Email us: MakeItEasy@relianceada.com Visit us online: rcom.co.in/business Global: globalcloudxchange.com
4. CAPITALIZING ON GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
ACROSS EMERGING MARKETS CORRIDOR WITH
FAST EDGE AND CLOUD X WAN
2
NEWS Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.comrcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
Aligned with initiatives taking “Digital India” from promise to fruition, GCX has launched Fast
Edge, the first “Make in India” Content Delivery Network, putting content closer to India’s 350
million+ eyeballs with the most cost-efficient access available in the market.
FAST EDGE CDN
“India’s Internet User growth is accelerating
at more than 40% year-over-year and
India has surpassed the USA to become
the #2 Global User Market behind China,”
according to the Global Internet Trend 2016
report by Mary Meeker, KPCM.
With the increasing number of OTT, Gaming
and New Media companies targeting
India’s 350 million+ eyeballs, the demand
for improved response time; reduced risk
of malicious attacks; improved visibility
of control over traffic flows; and reduced
risk of network capacity bottlenecks are
rapidly growing. These requirements are
posing challenges, especially for third-party
CDN providers with only infrastructure at
regional hubs, far from where growth is
exploding.
“Fast Edge comprises a Content Delivery
Network of content caches around the edge
of Reliance’s Indian network, connecting
back to nine state-of-the-art Tier III+ data
centers in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai
and Hyderabad,” said Bill Barney, Co-CEO,
Reliance Communications and Chairman
CEO, GCX. “The content caches, in turn,
are seamlessly connected onward to our
network of data centers situated in key
hubs along the Emerging Markets Corridor,
all interconnected by our wholly owned
global subsea fiber network.”
Open-source cache servers hosted in
Reliance/GCXMPLSPoPsthroughoutIndia
mean content of all types including social
media, data, video and gaming, can now be
served from the very same neighborhood in
which the eyeballs accessing it are based.
“By building Fast Edge across the length
and breadth of the Reliance network, the
distance for content to travel to the eyeball
can be slashed from 5,000 miles to 10
miles, effectively eradicating the middle
mile bottleneck,” said Braham Singh,
SVP of Product Management, Reliance
Communications (Enterprise) and GCX.“
And because the content is cached and
delivered across our local network, any
rapid exponential growth in the number
of users concurrently accessing will not
automatically lead to middle mile bandwidth
issues. In other words, content can now
go “viral” across India without impact on
users.”
Fast Edge with Dynamic DNS (DDNS) also
offers built-in protection and security in
addition to maximizing the speed of content
delivery. With Reliance’s Direct Internet
Access (DIA) providing downstream access
to 100% of India’s Internet users, Fast Edge
is designed to optimize Content Delivery
across India – a step forward in making
Digital India a reality.
5. 3NEWS
CLOUDXWANfromReliance/GCXdeliversenhancedMPLSclassVPNconnectivityforEnterprises,
featuring low cost, Cloud-based, secure routing across the world’s largest subsea cable
infrastructure.
CLOUD X WAN
As digital innovation continues to push
the Wide Area Network (WAN) boundaries
globally, CIOs are forced to look for ways
they can do more with less, especially as
IT budgets across market segments have
generally remained flat. In view of this,
RCOM/GCX further expanded its CLOUD X
portfolio with the recent launch of CLOUD
X WAN, a Cloud-centric network platform
designed to help overcome many of the
challenges facing today’s global enterprise
networks. “In today’s market, it is evident
that SD-WAN is rapidly gaining momentum
as it offers an innovative way to adapt
traditional WANs to Cloud services,” said Bill
Barney, Co-CEO, Reliance Communications
and Chairman CEO, GCX. “CLOUD X WAN,
was developed to address the market,
offering an affordable solution which
embraces flexibility, scalability and enhanced
security.”
GCX’s CLOUD X WAN will provide Cloud-
based managed services globally across the
company’s proprietary CLOUD X platform;
a leading edge Cloud ecosystem and
multi-service orchestration platform
implemented in key hubs along GCX’s
Global subsea network infrastructure.
CLOUD X WAN is an evolution of GCX’s
existing hybrid WAN service which already
connects more than 20,000 locations to a
global MPLS network via the Internet.
A simple SD-WAN router will form the basic
building block, carrying out instructions
from a centralized SD-WAN controller. This
device will perform key routing functions
and other virtualized network services
as selected in real-time in a portal by the
customer” said Braham Singh, SVP, Product
Management, Reliance Communications
(Enterprise) and GCX.
Through CLOUD X WAN, enterprises will
be able to subscribe to network services
on a “pay-as-you-go” basis meaning their
network infrastructure can be as agile as
the Cloud services it connects into.
CLOUD X WAN’s centralized SD-WAN
architecture provides managed MPLS and
SD-WAN services, as well as Virtualized
Network Functions such as Virtual CPE
VPN, Virtual Firewall Security, Virtual
WAN Optimization and Storage-as-a-Service
across the network.
6. GCX AND BMC UK DELIVER 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP
QUALIFYING MATCH TO FANS IN EUROPE
GCX has once again partnered with BMC UK to deliver an end-to-end connectivity solution for the highly
anticipated Slovenia vs England 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match on 11 October, from Slovenia’s
Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana to ITV London studios.
“World Cup qualifying matches are one of the most watched
and followed sporting events in the world and especially
important for soccer fans across Europe. Therefore, it is
mission critical for us to provide our fans with smooth,
uninterrupted access to the game,” said Lee Russell,
Operations Director at BMC UK. “With GCX’s expansive
Global Network and its media capabilities, we have once
again delivered an unrivalled viewing experience for our
viewers.”
The broadcast from Slovenia to ITV London studios includes
an end-to-end network solution with fast, dedicated and
reliable connectivity, as well as active monitoring of the
transmission over GCX's Global Network to ensure consistent
broadcast quality for European audiences.
“Technological advances continue their relentless march
into the way we view sports and the demand for a high-
quality fan experience is snowballing. Having a scalable and
resilient communications infrastructure is vital to the media
and broadcasting sector, said Bryce Jewell, Managing
Director of the UK, Global Cloud Xchange. We are delighted
to partner with BMC UK again this year to provide high-
quality live connectivity broadcasts for the exciting World
Cup qualifying match.
The GCX Global Network is distinguished by its unmatched
geographic coverage and ability to provide both subsea
and terrestrial connectivity to major telecommunications
hubs fully supported by two redundant global network
operation centers. Our network connects many of these
telecommunications hubs across the globe, from the
developed markets in the U.S. and Europe to the key
emerging markets in the Middle East and Asia, including
India and China.
4
NEWS Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
GCX EXPANDS CLOUD ECOSYSTEM WITH
MICROSOFT AZURE EXPRESSROUTE
7. mirror.co.uk / Action images via Reuters
5NEWS
“As India enterprises enter a new era of digital globalization,
they require sophisticated new levels of support to tap into
opportunities from the convergence of Big Data and the
Internet of Things (IoT), to the latest augmented reality apps,”
said Braham Singh, SVP of Global Product Management,
Reliance Communications (Enterprise) Global Cloud
Xchange. “Through the interconnection of CLOUD X Fusion
and Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, customers will benefit
from the added flexibility and global reach to be more
competitive as we look at new opportunities from the ‘Digital
India’ initiatives.”
“Enterprises around the world always look for the right
platforms to help them thrive in the digital economy,” said
Ross Ortega, Principal Program Manager, Azure Networking.
“Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, combined with CLOUD X
Fusion, offers a complete suite of Cloud management tools
that give enterprise customers the flexibility and scalability
required as they adapt to the new paradigm. We are pleased to
have GCX as part of our growing Microsoft Cloud Ecosystem.”
CLOUD X Fusion is part of GCX’s CLOUD X portfolio, a
proprietary platform designed to seamlessly combine the
speed and power of fiber optics with the agility, flexibility
and cost-efficiencies of “pay-as-you-go” Cloud computing;
available globally and controlled by a simple-to-use user
portal. With CLOUD X Fusion, enterprises can use Ethernet
or MPLS VPN to privately connect their on-premises network,
data center or any other network resources via GCX’s private
network directly to the Microsoft Cloud platforms, such as
Azure, Microsoft Office 365, and CRM Online. This offers
faster speeds and lower latencies than typical connections
over the Internet.
CLOUD X nodes has been launched in Hong Kong, Palo Alto
(California), London, New York and all five Indian cities (Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad) since 2014,
with plans to roll out additional nodes in the next 12 months.
GCX in collaboration with Microsoft recently announced the addition of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute
via GCX’s CLOUD X Fusion in Chennai, with the ability to establish additional interconnections across
multiple locations and offer enterprise customers secure and seamless access to the rapidly growing
public Cloud ecosystem.
8. RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS (RCOM) AND MAXIS
COMMUNICATIONS BERHAD (MCB) ANNOUNCE LARGEST
EVER CONSOLIDATION IN INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR
On 14 September 2016, Reliance Communications Ltd. (“RCOM”), India’s leading fully-integrated nationwide
telecommunications service provider, and Maxis Communications Berhad (“MCB”), promoters of Aircel
Limited (“Aircel”), a leading pan-India mobile operator, announced the signing of definitive documents for the
merger of their Indian wireless businesses - the largest-ever consolidation in the Indian telecom sector.
The RCOM-Aircel combination will create a strong operator
clearly ranked amongst India’s top 4 telcos by customer base and
revenues, also ranking among the top 3 operators by revenues in
12 important circles.
MergedCo will have the second-largest spectrum holding amongst
all operators, aggregating 448 MHz across the 850, 900, 1800 and
2100 MHz bands, and will enjoy enhanced business continuity
through extended validity of spectrum holdings till 2033-35.
Mr. Anil D. Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Group, said Together
with our partners, MCB, we are delighted to have taken the lead
in consolidation of the Indian telecom sector, first, with RCOM’s
acquisition of the wireless business of SSTL (Sistema / MTS),
and now, with the combination of our business with Aircel Ltd.
in a 50:50 Joint Venture with MCB. We expect this combination
to create substantial long term value for shareholders of both,
RCOM and MCB, given the benefits of the wide-ranging spectrum
portfolio and significant revenue and cost synergies.
MCB commented, “This deal further reinforces MCB’s commitment
to India. Since acquiring Aircel in 2006, MCB has invested in
excess of INR 35,000 crore (USD 5.2 billion) into Aircel, making
this one of the largest foreign investments into India, not only in
the telecom industry but across all sectors. The magnitude of
this investment, and the further equity commitment in support of
this deal, are underpinned by MCB’s belief in the long term growth
potential of both India and the Indian telecom sector.”
MergedCo will be one of India’s largest private sector companies,
with an asset base of over Rs. 65,000 crore (USD 9.7 billion) and
net worth of Rs. 35,000 crore (USD 5.2 billion). The combined
entity will enjoy substantial benefits of scale driving significant
revenue growth, and capex and opex synergies with an NPV of ~
Rs. 20,000 crore (USD 3 billion).
RCOM and MCB will each hold a 50% stake in the merged entity
(“MergedCo”), with equal representation on the Board of Directors
and all Committees. The Company will be managed by an
independent professional team under the supervision of the Board.
RCOM’s overall debt will reduce by Rs 20,000 crore (USD 3 billion) or
over 40% of its total debt, and Aircel’s debt will reduce by Rs. 4,000
crore (USD 600 million), upon completion of the transaction in 2017.
RCOMwillcontinue toownandoperate its highgrowthbusinesses
in the domestic and global enterprise space, Data Centers, optic
fibre and related telecom infrastructure, besides owning valuable
real estate.
On consummation of the merger, RCOM and MCB are committed
to additional equity infusion into MergedCo to further strengthen
the Balance Sheet, fund future growth plans, and enhance
financial flexibility. Both parties are already in talks with leading
international investors in this regard.
MergedCo’s subscribers will have access to nationwide ‘gold
standard’ 4G LTE services on the sub-1 GHz band, under RCOM’s
existing nation-wide spectrum sharing / ICR arrangements with
Reliance Jio Infocomm.
The combined 2G, 3G and 4G networks position MergedCo for
further strategic collaborations, and provide MergedCo the
unique capability to offer a robust platform of services across all
customer segments in all 22 telecom circles, including the mass
market, leading to a superior customer experience
at an affordable price point, and bringing the
Internet to All in furtherance of Hon’ble
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s
vision of Digital India.
The transaction is subject to applicable
approvals, including inter alia, shareholder
and regulatory approvals, lenders’ consents,
etc. Goldman Sachs, SBI Capital
Markets, Standard Chartered
Bank, Strategy, A.T. Kearney,
BMR Advisors, PWC, S.R.
Batliboi Co. LLP, EY,
KPMG, Khaitan Co, JSA
Law, Kirkland Ellis, and
Slaughter May are
acting as Advisors for
the transaction.
NEWS Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
6 rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
9. 7NEWS
17-19 OCTOBER 2016
DALLAS
GCX (#ASN18101) is proud to be a sponsor of NANOG 68 in Dallas!
Please join GCX US team at the Tuesday Afternoon Break
(4:15pm at Regency Foyer) to discuss network connectivity,
IP Transit and Data Center solutions
NANOG 68
ABOUT NANOG
The North American Network Operators Group (NANOG), is the professional association
for Internet engineering, architecture and operations. Our core focus is on continuous
improvement of the data transmission technologies, practices, and facilities that make
the Internet function. NANOG is a membership organization organized as an 501(c)3 non-
profit.
NANOG Meetings offer a great opportunity to network with colleagues, freshen-up skills,
learn advanced networking techniques, and discover new network applications.
10. COVER STORY Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
8
SD-WANDISRUPTIVE, TRANSFORMATIVE...
A GAME CHANGER!
Digital Innovation and the impact of Internet of
Things (IoT) are among key drivers pushing Cloud
networking technology on to center stage as one of
this generation’s most disruptive game changers.
As the gap between network demands and available budget
continues to widen, traditional Wide Area Networks (WANs)
are being challenged. SD-WAN is seen as key in driving
improved return on network investment, in making enterprise
network services agile and in enabling a new consistent level
of network security in today’s increasingly Cloud-centric world.
International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that “worldwide
SD-WAN revenues will exceed $6 billion in 2020 with a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 90% over the 2015-2020
forecast period.”
According to IDC, “The emergence of SD-WAN is a relatively
recent market development, preceded by the existence of
hybrid WAN architectures. SD-WANs leverage these hybrid
WANs, but incorporate a centralized, application-based policy
controller, analytics for application and network visibility, a
software overlay that abstracts underlying networks, and an
optional SD-WAN forwarder that together provides intelligent
path selection across WAN links.”
rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE “USER EXPERIENCE”
As we head into the new software-enabled network world,
today’s topology is built on a premise that the “user experience”,
or how your employees interact and use the tools to do their
jobs, is more dynamic and needs to scale in ways never thought
of before. In the ever-growing Internet of Things (IoT), today’s
“user” can connect to the network through any number of
devices; whether corporate devices or even their own. Those
devices connect to corporate applications via a multitude of
connection types, like broadband or wireless Internet. And
with the advent of Cloud technologies, data and applications
are no longer hosted in one or two data centers…the “servers”
are often dispersed anywhere throughout the world.
“Thenetworktopologyoftodayneedstobesoftware-enabledto
truly be Cloud-connected. This new software-enabled network
will need to be able to support an unending amount of devices
dynamically, accessing an unlimited number of connections,
connecting to an ever changing library of Cloud-hosted
11. 9COVER STORY
applications, with efficiency and elasticity,” said Wilfred
Kwan, Chief Operating Officer, Reliance Communications
(Enterprise) and Global Cloud Xchange.
A big challenge for today’s enterprises is dynamically managing
and controlling a huge number of IoT devices with thousands
of connections and even more connectivity options, to a
range of Cloud-hosted services. That, in a nutshell, is the
requirement that the new software-enabled network needs
to address.
For enterprise CIOs, the decision of what to software enable,
really depends on users and where their applications are
hosted. Some SD-WAN platforms focus more on the ability
for branch offices to utilize more cost-effective connectivity
methods, while others focus on getting the users’ packets
streaming to the Cloud faster,” said Tom Gowen, President
of North America, Global Cloud Xchange. “The GCX CLOUD
X WAN, for example, emphasizes the use of high-bandwidth,
low-cost connectivity options at enterprise branch locations,
connecting to Cloud-hosted applications through the
optimal network path, and the on-demand deployment of
pre-built network service chains through Network Function
Virtualization (NFV); all orchestrated and controlled via a
single web portal.”
SD-WAN AND NFV DELIVERING BENEFITS TO THE
ENTERPRISE USER
Going beyond 2016, SD-WAN followed by NFV is expected
to deliver significant benefits to multinational enterprises.
Intelligent edge devices running software-based virtualized
network functions on virtual computing machines will
increasingly replace the multitude of specialist appliances
that currently run these network services at sites in today’s
enterprise networks. Benefits from this scenario mean that
a single, low-cost piece of equipment can become truly
multi-functional; capable of running a number of key network
services including router, firewall, load-balancer, network
optimization, VPN encryption and more.
While this capability has been available for many years and
utilized by telco service providers, it is now just trending into
the enterprise arena with deployment within public Clouds
capturing growth momentum.
“NFV, in particular, is offering clear benefits to enterprise
users as it drives value and savings in a number of ways.
For example, numerous expensive individual appliances are
replaced by virtual machines running on a “white box” which
provides various software-based applications and services,”
said Kwan. “This translates into massive savings in hardware
costsasasingledevicecannowrunmultipleservices. Also,the
complexity of traditional “premium” services (i.e., optimization,
advanced security, anti-virus, etc.) is reduced, making these
value-added services much more accessible to the enterprise.”
continued, page 10
Going beyond 2016, SD-WAN followed by NFV is expected to deliver significant
benefits to multinational enterprises. Intelligent edge devices running software-based
virtualized network functions on virtual computing machines will increasingly replace
the multitude of specialist appliances that currently run these network services at
sites in today’s enterprise networks.
12. COVER STORY Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
10 rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
continued from page 9
The network topology of today needs to be
software-enabled to truly be Cloud-connected.
This new software-enabled network will need
to be able to support an unending amount of
devices dynamically, accessing an unlimited
number of connections, connecting to an ever
changing library of Cloud-hosted applications,
with efficiency and elasticity.”
Wilfred Kwan
Chief Operating Officer
Reliance Communications (Enterprise) and
Global Cloud Xchange.
SD-WAN: REDEFINING WAN OPTIMIZATION
SD-WAN offers enterprises tremendous agility, efficiency and
cost-savings. Enterprises can deploy a mixture of expensive
dedicated and commodity Internet networks into remote offices
with on-demand capacity and centralized controls. These
networks can be easily optimized for quality and performance.
But extending SD-WAN into the Cloud is a different story. Cloud
resources are dynamic. Auto-scaling is a common use case and
a good example. Cloud servers and applications are provisioned
dynamically with different locations and Cloud provider options.
For SD-WAN to work in the Cloud, the controller must be very
intelligent and a part of the Cloud orchestration. This allows
automatic extension of SD-WANs to the Cloud server networks
and provide unification of the entire enterprise network
environment in real-time.
“It’sinevitablethatSD-WANwillbeapartoftheClouddeployment
model in the near future similar to NFVs in the service chain
model. To make this a reality, intelligent orchestrators with
knowledgeandcontrolofallcomponentsareneededtoprovision
Cloud resources and SD-WAN in real-time,” said John Yung, CEO,
Appcara. “More and more enterprise applications are distributed
across different Clouds and locations for compliance and better
user experience. SD-WAN controllers need to be tightly coupled
with Cloud orchestrations, such as Appcara’s App360, to extend
SD-WAN services to these applications operating in the Cloud.”
AND THE JURY IS IN...
As SD-WAN is rapidly making waves among enterprise CIOs, an
exponential increase in its deployment is evident as the mandate
to drive efficiency, security and cost savings has fueled decision
makers to jump on-board and make things happen.
They are liking what they see in terms of increased network agility,
which translates to faster provisioning that matches the flexibility
of the WAN to that of the Cloud. Also, appealing are the significant
cost savings in hardware across sites as they are replaced by a
single intelligent device running virtualized network functions, in
addition to savings through bandwidth optimization.
“SD-WAN also gives enterprises increased manageability, control
and scalability. In addition, improved visibility through granular
end-to-end performance data brings a level of transparency only
previously available with expensive appliance and management
platforms. This makes decision-making on network-related issues
so much more informed,” Gowen added.
With most SD-WAN platforms, performance visibility is also
available to the user (e.g., the enterprise IT department) via
some form of portal. While this is nothing new, and network
performance data has been available through network service
providers for many years, previously it required separate software,
network probes and hardware systems. Now this capability is a
fundamental feature of any SD-WAN controller and platform.
IN A NUTSHELL...
From an enterprise perspective, the user experience is now
defined by high performing applications, reliable connectivity,
and instant access to Cloud services, as opposed to network
latency, congestion and delays in adding to the network. If Cloud
was a revolution, Software-enabled networking is really the
evolution of how users connect to the Cloud.
13. • Low-cost Internet could be used more commonly in the
network without any adverse effect on per-application user-
experience?
• The aggregate bandwidth connecting any location could be
used better with “dynamic load-balancing” leading to lower
connectivity costs?
• The multitude of disparate appliances could be replaced by
a single device capable of carrying out a range of network
functions like firewall, Secure Internet Gateway or WAN
Optimisation meaning lower capex and opex?
• New network functions, more bandwidth or even new locations
could be provisioned in minutes at the press of a button
providing real agility?
• Routing decisions to on-premise data centers or public Cloud
platforms could be made on a per-application basis leading to
optimised performance and connectivity?
The network finally caught up with the Cloud?
ENTER CLOUD X WAN
WHAT IF...
• Internet security models often hamper Cloud performance with Cloud-bound traffic
flowing in and out of centralized gateways
• Low cost connectivity like broadband Internet is most commonly used at low criticality
sites or as back-up
• Twice the required bandwidth is often bought with “back-up” connections dormant for
the vast majority of time
• A multitude of disparate appliances (Router, Firewall, Anti-Virus, Proxy, Load balancers,
WAN Optimisation … etc) are relied upon to carry complex network functions
• Provisioning is reliant upon manual processes, can be prone to human error and it can
take weeks to turn up a new site
• Pre-existing network connections are rarely used leading to delay and duplicated cost
• Internet performance is variable and often unreliable creating a barrier to Cloud adoption
• Hybrid WANs blending performance-guaranteed MPLS with low-cost Internet are
complex to manage
THEENTERPRISENETWORKHASFAILEDTOKEEPPACEWITHTHECLOUD
And the Traditional Network Model has Become Outdated
IN THE TRADITIONAL ENTERPRISE NETWORK MODEL ...
• Supports an increasingly geographically dispersed user base
• Needs to support more and more “devices” including mobile,
tablet and “Things”
• Is seeing application-driven bandwidth demand grow between
20% and 50% per year
• Is facing more and more cyber security threats, especially at
branch locations
• Needs an ever-growing range of specialist network services to
deliver best value for money from IT investment
• Is seeing the gap between network demands and available
budget becoming bigger
• Needs to be as agile as possible, taking advantage of “the
Cloud” as much as is feasible and practicable with more and
more applications becoming “Web-based”
TODAY’S CIO...
continued, page 12
11COVER STORY 11COVER STORY
14. 12 rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
In today’s world, Cloud services are
consuming an exponentially increasing
amount of bandwidth and network
operators are challenged to continually
keep up with demand. During a recent
panel discussion on “Delivering the Cloud
to Corporate Customers Employees”
at WAN Summit Singapore 2016, panels
agreed that having an extensive global
footprint and the ability to interconnect to
various leading Cloud providers are critical
factors for enterprises in transitioning
into the Cloud, especially in the emerging
market countries where access may be
more of a challenge.
In addressing the challenges of delivering
Cloud services in remote area and across
emerging market countries, Wilfred
Kwan, Chief Operating Officer, Reliance
Communications (Enterprise) Global
Cloud Xchange commented that there
were more options available now and
deployment is much more feasible with
I n t e r n e t and broadband. “The key
question is how much
of that is Quality of
Service (QoS)? An end user would want to
know who can guarantee my service. It’s
great to have all the reporting to improve
user’s experience but the bottom line is
you still need to have a quality network
before you can do all of the above.”
The panel also discussed the different
options accessing the Cloud—either
with direct connect or through Cloud
exchanges—as well as, the most common
practices for enterprise customers. “We
see it from a direct-connect perspective
as many of our enterprise customers
adopt more hybrid environments. So,
direct connect is great when you’re
carrying credit card data or some sort of
PCI compliance. Or, if a particular control
is an issue for you equally, a hybrid model
then allows people at branch locations
to deploy much more cost-effective
broadband solutions for email and web
browsing, for example. So, direct connect
is still very much part of the strategy
for our enterprise customers, and we’re
seeing that deployed much more in a
hybrid model,” said Simon Waller, Vice
President of Carrier Sales for EMEA and
APAC, GTT.
“It’s always the choice for our enterprise
customers and—in fact—we do recommend
our enterprise customers, especially those
with critical applications, to ensure
redundancy is built in. You can go with
two carriers, you can manage yourself,
or through us. Because at the end of the
day, you want to have a resilient link with a
high-speed route with the lowest latency.
Our job is to make the CIO look good.
Anything that we can do to enhance that,
we’ll do it!” added Kwan.
WAN Summit Singapore 2016 brought
together corporate WAN strategists
and service provider executives to
discuss common challenges, gain
new perspectives, and build business
relationships with potential suppliers,
customers, and peers.
DELIVERING THE CLOUD TO
CORPORATE CUSTOMERS EMPLOYEES
COVER STORY Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
continued from page 11
15. PRODUCT UPDATE Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
MAXIMIZING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
WITH RELIANCE CLOUD TELEPHONY
The voice communications market is undergoing a seismic shift. After decades of being stagnant,
new solutions are being adopted to improve the business processes of an enterprise.
In India, most Cloud telephony providers are standalone
operators that partner with various telecom companies
to offer their services, and hence there is a need for
a more streamlined, controlled and systematic voice
communications.
“As Indian enterprises embark on their digital
transformation journey, they need comprehensive Cloud
telephony solutions that offer the most efficient lead
management system to increase business agility while
staying connected to their customers,” said Braham
Singh, SVP, Product Management, RCOM (Enterprise)
and GCX. “Reliance Cloud Telephony was developed to
address the market and to help enterprises transitioning
to secure and reliable voice services in the Cloud for
future growth.”
Reliance Cloud Telephony is powered by a telephony
engine designed to integrate telephony intelligently,
as well as, contextually with customer databases,
applications and processes, enabling organizations to
take giant strides in lead generation, lead management
and customer service with minimal investment.
Reliance Insta CallBack
• Instant connection with interested prospects leading to
significantly higher sales closures
Reliance AutoCall Notifier
• Enables automatic personalised mass notifications through
telephone calls and/or SMS
Reliance Smart CallThrough
• Intelligent routing of incoming calls to relevant experts
using a virtual number interfacea
Reliance Cloud Telephony is of particular interest to
Marketing Customer Service professionals.
Since its launch, Reliance Cloud Telephony has rapidly
gained momentum in the marketplace, providing
end-to-end integrated services for Indian enterprises
across different industries. For instance, a leading
‘local search service’ provider was facilitating many
deals between its listed sellers and buyers (through
Web, Voice and Text) but had no way of ascertaining
the number of leads that each listing was generating.
They utilized our ‘Smart CallThrough’ Cloud telephony
service to get valuable analytics on the calls that each
listed business generates. Reliance Cloud Telephony
is helping businesses connect relevant personnel at
the ‘moment of need’: patients are getting connected
to caregivers, transporters are able to find each other
for smooth movement of cargo, even machines are
getting connected to maintenance personnel…the list
continues to grow. On an average, our Cloud telephony
services facilitate a hundred thousand interactions
every day.
“We believe that Cloud Telephony is in its nascent
stages and the future will see the technology put to
ubiquitous use. In the coming months, we will continue
our momentum and expand our Cloud Telephony
suite for enterprises to remain competitive and enable
them to generate sustainable and long-term business
benefits,” said Singh.
RELIANCE CLOUD TELEPHONY SERVICES
16. 14
RCOM/GCX UPDATE Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
case at a time. “We must continuously be aware of the end-user
customer impact during an incident and remain empathetic to
the impact. Also, being aware that the customer is going to
be very forceful for a resolution – even when the CAT team
are working diligently for a fix – is a big challenge,” said Bruce
Mcleod, GCX Operations Director, APAC.
“Customer Advocates face certain
hurdles while completing assigned
tasks, most challenging being
timely responses and technical
resolution from underlying suppliers
for certain incidents. Unless inputs
are available from suppliers, a
meaning-full update to customer
can be challenging. Our Customer
Advocates are trained to handle
such situations; we also have a
supplier management team in
place as part of CAT structure
to help them,” Saleem Meethal,
GCX’s Head of Specialized Services Center added.
In the midst of challenges, our CAT members continue to set
high targets and KPIs in the management of the program.
According to Chun Su Liu, GCX’s Global Escalation Director,
“We aim to transform ourselves into a world-class customer-
focused Service Provider, delivering the best customer
experiences by driving a customer-centric culture and a
commitment to excellence. Through a passion for quality
service, 24/7 availability and ever-ready support, we will make
customer advocacy a continued success as we support a
broader group of customers going forward.
OUR CUSTOMER ADVOCACY TEAM MAKING
A DIFFERENCE IN CUSTOMER CARE…
Earlier this year, GCX introduced a new approach to servicing many of our larger enterprise customers
through dedicated “Customer Advocacy Teams” (CAT). This change has seen a complete transformation
in the way we handle customers and run our Network Operation Center. Each Customer Advocacy Team
comprises dedicated resources who are intimately familiar with the select customer’s services and
whose time is dedicated to the provisioning of these services to the customer.
“Our Customer Advocacy model is designed to improve customer
experience by building customer-centric teams with focus on
faster resolution and complete ownership,” said Surjeet Singh
GCX’s Head of Network Service Assurance. “With this vision, we
changed the traditional ‘Service Provider’ approach to an active
‘Customer Centric’ approach towards operations. The instant
benefit of Customer Advocacy
is that the subject matter expert
Customer Advocate takes end-
to-end ownership of the fault
to ensure the resolution is on
right track and the customer
is proactively updated on
resolution progress. The
Customer advocate provides
one-stop-shop for customer
traction irrespective of the
product line and technology.”
Deep knowledge of the
customer’s services and
design has helped to resolve network incidents effectively and
we have also seen a significant improvement in the efficiency
of operational resources within the CAT program. The
program also builds a strong sense of ownership by making
engineers the focal point for customer-specific assignments.
This has led to better alignment across the Customer Service
and Operations teams, adding to the initial success of the
CAT program which is now being implemented on a broader
scale including extension into our India Enterprise domestic
operations.
Since its launch, the CAT program has also seen challenges
which each team member has worked towards resolving one
rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
Our Customer Advocacy model is
designed to improve customer experience
by building customer-centric teams with
focus on faster resolution and complete
ownership.”
Surjeet Singh
Head of Network Service Assurance
Global Cloud Xchange
17. REACHING THE ASIAN EYEBALLS WITH
GCX AT IBC 2016
9-13 SEPTEMBER 2016, RAI AMSTERDAM
“The Emerging Markets Corridor will be among the fastest-growing Internet
markets and the biggest beneficiary of the digital revolution as requirements
continue to grow,” said Mark Russell, President of Europe, GCX, in a presentation
“The Art of Connecting to Eyeballs in Emerging Markets” at the IBC Conference
on Monday 12 September 2016 in Amsterdam.
Mr. Russell also shared how media and OTT companies can meet the explosive
new demands ahead, by offering lower-cost content, better user experience and scalable and resilient communications infrastructure.
Alongside our partner Equinix and customer BMC UK, GCX also had the opportunity to share with the delegates on how our suite of
products and solutions can help in addressing the new mandates of the media broadcasting industry at IBC 2016.
EVENTS Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
15EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
NANOG 68
17-19 OCTOBER 2016
DALLAS, TEXAS
GITEX TECH TALKS 2016
18 OCTOBER 2016
DUBAI WORLD TRADE
CENTRE, DUBAI
ROTARY CHARITY
REGATTA
11 NOVEMBER 2016
SYDNEY
SUBMARINE
NETWORKS WORLD
17-19 OCTOBER 2016
SUNTEC SINGAPORE
CAPACITY EUROPE
7-9 NOVEMBER 2016
PARIS
CAPACITY ASIA
6-7 DECEMBER 2016
HONG KONG
GCX MIDDLE EAST AT IRAN CONNECT 2016
6-7 SEPTEMBER 2016, IRAN
GCX Middle East team took part at the Iran Connect in Tehran on 6-7 September 2016. Co-hosted by
the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Iran, Iran Connect provided the first
opportunity for international organisations to discover investment and trading opportunities in one of
the world’s last untapped markets.
GCX NORTH AMERICA AT MARKETPLACE LIVE
22 SEPTEMBER 2016, NEW YORK
GCX US team attended MarketplaceLIVE in New York
on 22 September 2016. MarketplaceLIVE is a one day
event that brings the complete community of Cloud
and Internet stakeholders together as equals to cross-
pollinate ideas.
GCX ATTENDS TELECOMS WORLD MIDDLE EAST
27-28 SEPTEMBER 2016, DUBAI
GCX Middle East team took part as a sponsor
at Telecoms World Middle East on 27-28
September 2016 in Dubai. The two-day event
gave our Middle East team an opportunity to
meet and network with the delegates on how
GCX suite of solutions can help in addressing
the demand of the digital economy and to
capture new markets.
RCOM RECEIVES LONG PARTNERSHIP
AWARD FROM TESCO BENGALURU
5 OCTOBER 2016, BENGALURU
Tesco Bengaluru recently awarded Reliance Communications
with the “Long Partnership Award” at the Tesco Partner Connect
2016 for providing the most robust and reliable voice and data
solutions to Tesco for more than eight years.
Mohammed K Quraishi, Global Enterprise Business, RCOM (left), received
the award from Glen Attewell, Chief Executive Officer, Tesco Bengaluru
18. TECH TALK Quarterly Newsletter | October - December 2016
16 rcom.co.in globalcloudxchange.com
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE
FACING SUBSEA OPERATORS AS THE
WORLD MOVES INTO THE CLOUD
AGE AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS
EVOLVES?
To not think or act solely as a subsea
operator. Technology is evolving quickly
and bandwidth demands continue to
soar as a result of Cloud and IoT. The
subsea network is key as we bring our
Cloud services to market. We need to
continue driving down our operational
costs to ensure bandwidth remains
affordable. To achieve this, GCX is
looking at new go-to-market approaches
like cost-sharing opportunities as well
as traditional sales of infrastructure
space, power, fiber, spectrum, etc.
Additionally, as we see new players
entering the market with limited subsea
experience we have an opportunity
to offer outsourcing and professional
services to these new cable owners.
As owner and operator of the world’s
largest private subsea infrastructure,
we are well-positioned to deliver on this
opportunity to further enhance offerings
for our customers.
BANDWIDTH DEMANDS ARE EVER-
GROWING. WHAT TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCES OR INNOVATIONS ARE
COMING IN THE SUBSEA WORLD TO
MEET THE DEMAND?
There will be pressure in both access
and core networks. New access
networks will evolve using technologies
like Narrowband IoT and 5G. In the
core, Dense Wave Division Multiplexing
“DWDM” will continue to underpin
subsea networks for years to come.
In fact, subsea is ahead of the game
with ongoing advances in fiber and
signal amplification technology. As an
example of the rate of progress, during
my eight years at GCX, the capacity
per channel (wavelength) on a subsea
network has increased from 10Gbps to
40Gbps to 100Gbps. Trials for 200Gps
and 400Gbps per channel systems are
currently taking place and this upward
trend will continue for the foreseeable
future.
HOW HAVE CHALLENGES LIKE CABLE
OUTAGES CHANGED OVER THE PAST
10 YEARS?
The impact of cable system outages has
changed significantly over the past 10
years. I recall the days when the loss of a
trans-Atlantic cable would see the world
go mad; guys working 36 hours non-
stop managing customers, processing
restoration requests and/or re-routing
services across different cable systems
and capacity. In contrast, we recently
had an outage on one of our cables
and received only one 10G restoration
request. Nowadays, customer networks
are based more on self-healing IP
(Packet based) networks and resilient
topologies with risk spread over
multiple subsea cables which provide
added assurance on network reliability.
Having said that, in some regions the
opportunity to diversify is limited so we
need to ensure our network operations
is always ready to support customers
under all circumstances.
ARE THERE ANY ADVANCES EXPECTED
TO MAKE SUBSEA NETWORKS EVEN
MORE RELIABLE?
The two biggest factors that impact
reliability are the frequency of cable cuts
and the time to repair. “Other marine
users” remain the primary cause of
cable cuts (typically through fishing
or anchoring activities) and we are
successfully using systems such as
AIS to warn ships that attempt to fish
or anchor near our cable. Time to repair
is dependent upon the availability of a
maintenance vessel and the permits
required for the vessel to operate
within a country’s territorial waters,
which is a huge variable dependent
upon where in the world we need a
repair. As an example, for a recent
repair off the Egyptian coast, separate
permits were required from 13 different
government departments before work
could commence. Efforts are being made
to make governments aware of these
issues through industry bodies such
as the International Cable Protection
Committee (ICPC), UK Cable Protection
Committee (UKCPC) and NASCA in the
US and we have found that governments
take notice when major outages (affecting
multiple cables) occurs. As an industry,
we continue to push for a much more
focused effort in this area.
AS BILLIONS OF INTERNET USERS COME
ONLINE IN THE EMERGING MARKETS,
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES
FACING SUBSEA OPERATORS AS THEY
CONNECTHERE?
There is a wide range of challenges
including environment, weather and
socio-political factors. Unlike in
developed markets (i.e., US and Europe),
the Emerging Markets can be difficult
in terms of terrain, infrastructure or
onward connectivity and backhaul
networks. Then you have the weather.
The weather systems are so variable
and extreme such as the extreme heat
in the Middle East. And finally you have
socio-political factors like regulatory
environments. In many of the countries
that are, or will experience the Internet
explosion, the telecoms markets are
very heavily regulated. That makes it a
very complex and often slow process to
bring up the bandwidth and international
connectivity the population demands.
That’s often where GCX comes in.
We have a network spanning 285,000
route km from India across the globe;
nine world-class data centers in India;
and a revolutionary CLOUD X portfolio.
We are well-positioned to serve the
Internet explosion in the Middle East and
Asia, including India and China.
Network infrastructures are under tremendous pressure as exploding Internet traffic volumes consume
bandwidth capacity fast. To maneuver this challenging landscape, subsea operators must also evolve to
stay relevant in order to capitalize on the new digital opportunities. RCOM/GCX Review catches up with
Brad Kneller, Vice President, Global Network Operations, Global Cloud Xchange, to talk about challenges
and exciting new technologies impacting the subsea sector.
SUBSEAATAGLANCE
19. OUR OFFICE LOCATIONS
ASIA-PACIFIC
INDIA
EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST
USA
NEW DELHI
BCA 06, 2nd Floor, A-Wing
Reliance Center Delhi
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Marg
New Delhi 110002
SOUTH KOREA
Suite 2303, City Air Tower, 36,
Teheran-ro, 87-gil, Gangnam-gu,
Seoul (06164), Korea
SINGAPORE
67 Ubi Avenue 1
#06-01 North Wing
Singapore 408942
TAIWAN
4th Floor, No.200 Section 1
Keelung Road, Taipei 110
Taiwan
HEAD OFFICE
Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC)
H Block, Thane Belapur Road
Koparkhairane
Navi Mumbai – 400710
BANGALORE
HM Towers, 4th Floor
Brigade Road Junction
Ashok Nagar, Above CCD
Bangalore - 560025
HYDERABAD
4th Floor, Plot No.38
Hi-Tech City
Madhapur
Hyderabad 500081
MUMBAI
2nd Floor South Wing
Off Western Exp Highway
Anand Nagar, Vakola
Santacruz East
Mumbai 400055
BELGIUM
Regus
Brussels Airport
Pegasuslaan 5
B-1831 Diegem
Belgium
EGYPT
Nile City Towers, North Tower,
23rd Floor Cornish El Nil,
Ramlet Boulak
P.O. Box 11624
Cairo, Egypt
FRANCE
Immeuble Le Colisée,
8 avenue de l’Arche
92419 Courbevoie Cedex
France
GERMANY
VANCO GmbH
Triforum Haus A1,
Frankfurter Strasse 233,
63263 Neu-Isenburg
Germany
SAN BRUNO
999 Bayhill Drive
Suite 160
San Bruno, CA 94066
DENVER
Suite 2-130
2000 S Colorado Blvd
Denver, CO 80222
NEW YORK
600 3rd Avenue
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10016
RESTON
12007 Sunrise Valley Dr. Ste
115, Reston, VA20191
AUSTRALIA
Level 8, 54, Miller Street,
North Sydney
NSW 2060
Australia
CHINA
Room 705, 7/F, Office Tower 2
SunDongAn Plaza, No.138
WangFujing Ave, Dong Cheng District
Beijing 100006, China
HONG KONG
Suite 3901-02, 39/F
Lippo Centre, Tower Two
89 Queensway
Hong Kong
JAPAN
9F Atelier Yours Ogawamachi
1-10-2 Kanda-Ogawamachi
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0052
Japan
ITALY
Torre Tonda
P.zza Don Mapelli, 1
20099 Sesto San Giovanni
Milano, Italy
THE NETHERLANDS
Herikerbergweg 292 - 342
1101 CT Amsterdam
The Netherlands
SPAIN
Calle Bahia Business Center
Calle Bahia de Pollensa, 5
28042 Madrid, Spain
SWEDEN
Grev Turegatan 18
SE- 114 46
Stockholm
Sweden
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
(Jebel Ali Branch) Building # ZF08
Near R/A12 Jebel Ali Free Zone - North
P.O. Box 30440,
Dubai U.A.E.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
(Dubai Branch) Al Masaood Building
7th Floor, Al Maktoum Street
P.O. Box 30440
Dubai U.A.E.
UNITED KINGDOM
Sovereign Court
637 Sipson Road, West Drayton
Middlesex, UB7 0JE
United Kingdom
