PCCW adds software automation for on-demand, private global connectivity

Heather Wright was in San Jose as a guest of NetEvents

PCCW Global has launched a software-defined interconnect platform, enabling enterprises and XaaS providers to have direct connectivity into cloud-based service providers or to their own international sites or partner’s sites, without the complexity of network configuration.

PCCW Global CTO Paul Gampe said Console Connect allowed customers to set up predictable, private connectivity across its network, between any data centres on the network and anyone connected into the network as well as out to the major cloud providers, at the click of a button using automation software.

Gampe said Connections could be provisioned and reconfigured, with bandwidth turned up and down on-demand.

Console Connect customers can currently access AWS, Azure and Alibaba, with major cloud service providers to be added over the next three months, Gampe added.

By the third quarter of this year, PCCW said it aims to have all major cloud service providers on board as well as additional “major” SaaS providers.

“Console Connect allows you to set up secure direct connections to the cloud and turn them up, turn them down or to set up direct connections to sites across our network,” Gampe said. “If you’re a multinational organisation, this gives you the ability to set up connections across our global network, literally with the click of a button.”

The service can tie together enterprise data centres, headquarters to regional centres and branch offices, as well as business partners and supply chain and private access to public cloud and IaaS providers

“It brings a whole new level of flexibility for the customer as well. You can turn it up and down, reconfigure links across the network literally at the click of a button,” said Gampe. “It eliminates the complexity of network configuration so the customer can focus on its core business.”

The company, which is the global operating division of Hong Kong Telecom, billed Console Connect as “the industry’s first software-defined interconnect platform powered by a Tier 1 global IP network.”

PCCW acquired Console Connect’s software platform and proprietary technology in November 2018. The Silicon Valley start-up had its global R&D unit based out of Brisbane.

In the 100 days following the acquisition, PCCW overlaid the Cloud Connect software and platform onto its network

“We integrated that business into our business and put it on top of our global network,” Gampe says.

Ronnie Klinger, PCCW Global president of mobility and digital solutions, said PCCW’s IP network goes to many parts of the world that others do not.

“Owning the network enables us to offer unique flexibility on bandwidth and terms.

“PCCW is Global is very diverse with presence all over North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and most markets in Asia.”

PCCW says it is initially focusing on the enterprise and XaaS provider markets but expects to look later in the year at the possibility of extending the platform to service providers.

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