Charter Communications has announced the national launch of managed SD-WAN services through its Spectrum Enterprise unit.
The move comes nearly two years after the Comcast put managed software defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) services into beta. AT&T, which Charter competes with in its footprint, has also been offering these enterprise services for some time.
Charter said its services covers the entire implementation—from solution design and installation to portal-based network visibility, as well as monitoring and support.
The Spectrum Enterprise service is available in a number of configurations, including Layer 3, Layer 2 and Hybrid iterations. An integrated virtual security service is also available for clients who want to enable security internet access with their managed SD-WAN service.
The service leverages technologies from Cisco (services orchestration), Fortinet (virtual security), Netcracker (VNF management) and Nokia’s Nuage Networks (SD-WAN Technology).
“Our new Managed SD-WAN service delivers on our promise of choice and flexibility by enabling enterprises to grow and evolve their networks via our next-generation SDN/NFV platform,” said Greg King, senior VP of product, marketing and strategy for Spectrum Enterprise, in a statement. “Not only does this platform allow clients to securely integrate existing network sites and SD-WAN sites, it also enables us to rapidly deploy new capabilities for additional use cases and future network solutions.”
Charter is already touting an SD-WAN integration it performed in Texas—pretty close to AT&T’s Dallas headquarters—for the public safety office for the Town of Addison.
“As we worked with Spectrum Enterprise through the field trial, we appreciated how they incorporated our feedback into their Managed SD-WAN service,” said Hamid Khaleghipour, Interim deputy city manager and executive director of business performance and innovation for the Town of Addison. “We are excited by the availability of a WAN solution that lets us choose an Ethernet service or an SD-WAN with Ethernet stitching capability to build and migrate to next gen services at our own pace.”
