Industry Spotlight: Jerzy Szlosarek on Epsilon’s SDN Journey

Software defined networking continues to work its way deeper into global internet infrastructure.  Companies of all sizes are putting the pieces in place to take advantage of the automation and operational agility that SDN offers, but there are a lot of pieces yet to place and many lessons left to learn.  With us today to talk about how his company and the industry at large are leveraging SDN technologies and capabilities is Jerzy Szlosarek, CEO of Epsilon.  

TR: How is SDN influencing your business? What kinds of changes is SDN driving in international networking?

JS: SDN is really a journey we’ve been on for 10 years. Our business has always been focused on finding simple solutions for complex networking challenges. That has evolved into our Infiny platform after a lot of growth in our Global Fabric of Service Providers, Cloud Service Providers and Internet Exchanges (IXs) as well as our commitment to automation and DevOps.

Over the last 12 months we’ve been focused on creating an entire approach that supports the future of SDN by launching initiatives around inter-carrier automation and delivering 100G on-demand. It’s an approach we’ve taken that’s hyperconnected, hyper-scalable and driven by APIs that prepares our partners for the future of networking.

I think that SDN is transforming the wholesale ecosystem and it’s long overdue. We see SDN as the gateway to the future that will free networking from a legacy mindset. It’s all about creating new opportunities in our business and removing the limits on what a networking business can be.

TR: What role do APIs play in your journey to SDN? Why are Networks APIs important to your future?  

JS: We’ve put Network APIs at the heart of our product strategy and they are influencing the future of interoperability and SDN.

When there’s internal challenges that need to be solved we look at creating APIs. By implementing an API-first strategy we are putting software at the centre of our business and creating an environment that is flexible, fluid and ready to scale.

We’ve taken this approach as I see APIs as integral to our future. Whether we open these APIs to our partners or the entire industry is an option we have. We’ve built that flexibility into our operations.

TR: How will your partners benefit from your API-first strategy?

JS: I find that network APIs are changing how network-centric businesses can consume connectivity and that’s really transforming how as an industry we can interconnect and grow together.

Our DevOps team has been working hard to develop APIs that open our Infiny by Epsilon on-demand connectivity platform to our partners. The work that they’ve been doing internally is then being translated to our API partner strategy.

Our partners can leverage our Global Interconnect Fabric in their businesses and use it however they like. It removes the barrier between buyer and seller while taking the friction out of the procurement process. At the same time, we are able to integrate solutions into our own platform by threading service capabilities from our partners.

TR: How do APIs factor into your plans to interconnect with SDN platforms and deliver more Cross-Carrier automation?

JS: This year we’ve been partnering to develop real-world Cross-Carrier automation deployments. Across the world we’ve been working with Service Providers to explore how we can use our API stack to expand their scope and grow their offerings.

In our industry, partnerships have mainly been focusing on commercial agreements rather than technical integrations. By using both APIs and new levels of programmability there’s an opportunity to procure, monitor and manage services across our multiple SDN environments. Using Network APIs, we are able to extend our reach quickly and seamlessly into our partners platforms and vice versa.

TR: What do you think this will mean for the future international networking?

JS: I think there’s a lot of opportunities in interoperability. Network-centric businesses can use API’s and platforms to create marketplaces that give users access to a whole range of services. They can enable global connectivity to be bundled and used in new and exciting ways.

Through APIs, networking is becoming a utility that can be integrated into existing platforms and be used by all kinds of Service Providers and Start-Ups.

They can be federated on a platform and presented to users via a single user experience. Users will gain all the services they need to build their solutions but with greater control and freedom. The services being offered can go beyond connectivity and look at other challenges like security that are adjacent to but also critical to the delivery and optimisation of applications and services. That’s what is exciting to me.

TR: Thank you for talking with Telecom Ramblings!

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Categories: Industry Spotlight · Interconnection · SDN