Service providers want to know how they can build and run programmable, intelligent, responsive, efficient, flexible, and highly secure yet open networks with a high degree of automation. They want to be able to configure and activate new services quickly, utilize emerging cloud capabilities, and meet customer needs. Nimble, smart innovators in the global communications and networking industry are working on the answers and coming up with solutions every day. But providers need to know if these next-generation technologies can already meet their requirements today

1. Background
Service providers want to know how they can build and run programmable, intelligent,
responsive, efficient, flexible, and highly secure yet open networks with a high degree of
automation. They want to be able to configure and activate new services quickly, utilize
emerging cloud capabilities, and meet customer needs. Nimble, smart innovators in the global
communications and networking industry are working on the answers and coming up with
solutions every day. But providers need to know if these next-generation technologies can
already meet their requirements today
Light Reading Inc., an independent and trusted media organization at the heart of the global
communications technology industry, sought answers to the above questions. To that end,
the company enlisted another independent and highly respected organization―the European
Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC)―to conduct a series of validation and verification
tests on a number of use cases with Cisco® cloud, software-defined networking (SDN), and
virtualization platforms, which Cisco has been developing during the past few years.
EANTC visited Cisco headquarters in San Jose, California, and conducted multiple tests
spanning two weeks. The EANTC team is known for testing the attributes, limits, and
multivendor deployment suitability of networking technology. Along with this approach, the
testing evaluated Cisco’s holistic architecture and environment, including its effectiveness
in rolling out new services. They found that a number of complex provisioning and fault
management aspects of service provider networks can be automated and programmed on
demand, and that services can be rolled out much more quickly and easily than with traditional
configuration and activation tools.
Results
EANTC evaluated Cisco products and solutions based on a communications service provider’s
journey from evaluation through the ready-to-deploy and full deployment and monetization
phases of cloud-based services.
The following Cisco products and services were used in the testing and evaluation process:
• Innovation Pods are self-contained and fully documented data center racks that Cisco
leases to providers on an annual basis, including physical hardware (Cisco Unified
Computing System™ [Cisco UCS®] platforms, storage, and networking), software
(OpenStack and Cisco Virtual Internet Routing Lab), sample applications, and technical
support. Each pod includes a range of Cisco products that a provider can use to quickly
develop and build cloud services.
• Cisco dCloud is a web-based resource that is freely available. It includes platforms
showcasing self-service capabilities for service providers, allowing testing of different
scenarios.
1 © 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Independent Validation of Cisco Service Provider Virtualization
and Cloud Portfolio
European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) and Light Reading
Research Date: March 2015
Research Highlight
.

2. • Cisco WAN Automation Engine promotes an agile operations environment with predictable
design and capacity planning in a multivendor network. Testing covered accurate traffic
prediction and utilization-based path selection, traffic engineering and elastic bandwidth
capabilities, and automation of network resource allocation and network optimization.
• Cisco Network Services Orchestrator is a sleek, highly efficient abstraction layer between
a provider’s network services and their underlying infrastructure components. It is used to
automate any service or device - even in complex, heterogeneous operator environments
- at the speed of software. It was used to test an end-to-end cloud VPN service over a
multivendor network.
• Cisco Cloud VPN technology was used to test a cloud VPN service workflow and lifecycle
management with service chaining of network functions.
• Cisco Project Squared (now called Cisco Spark™) is a business collaboration app
that combines chat, audio, video, multi-party meetings and content sharing in a single
experience that supports the demanding collaboration needs of modern teams. It was
built in the Cisco Collaboration Cloud, a new, next-generation platform aligned with the
Cisco Intercloud™ strategy, to support best-in-class collaboration experiences. EANTC
validated the app’s integration with Cisco WebEx® in a live production environment running
as a virtualized, hosted collaboration application allowing for full control of the virtual
infrastructure.
• Cisco Mobility IQ is a highly secure cloud-based solution that culls mobile data to provide
network, user, and business intelligence at scale across Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G networks
to promote evolving new business outcomes related to achieving greater operational
efficiencies or new sources of revenue.
EANTC testing and validation found that these Cisco products and solutions are ready for
different stages of the service provider cloud services journey (Figure 1).
Figure 1. EANTC Mapping of Cisco Solution Components to Customer Journey Stages
Evaluation
Ready for
Deployment
Monetization
• dCloud Web platform
• Innovation PODs
• Cisco WAN
Automation Engine
• Cisco Network
Services Orchestrator
enabled by Tail-f
• Cloud VPN
Services Lifecycle
Management
• Virtualized Hosted
Collaboration
Application -
Cisco WebEx
Squared
• Cisco Mobility IQ -
User, Network,
Business Analytics
Research Highlight
For More Information
You can download the Light Reading report here. To learn more about the results, contact
your local Cisco Account Manager.
C17-735592-00 08/15
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