Tata Communications launches global low-latency network/Afone turns to Ekinops for data center interconnection

Tata Communications has launched a low-latency network connecting major financial capitals in Asia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The carrier says the network is the first low-latency service that offers a pure, multipoint Ethernet platform to the financial services sector and other global industries, and will accelerate global high-frequency trading and other low-latency applications. Designed for companies that require a secure, reliable, and fast low-latency option, the network will enable financial firms to execute a high-frequency trade between locations, such as London and Hong Kong or New York and Singapore, in milliseconds through a single network and single supplier model, Tata asserts. John Hoffman, head of Ethernet product management, Tata Communications said, “Global financial trading firms initially drove the need for this solution as every millisecond of latency is critical for trading. However, due to rising complexity and importance of specific mission-critical applications, we are also seeing an uptake in demand for similar levels of latency from a growing range of sectors and businesses.” Tata says the new network enables customers with low-latency needs to work with a single global supplier instead of multiple country-specific point-to-point network providers. Customers can build multipoint low-latency networks that communicate from city-to-city rather than exchange-to-exchange to serve applications for which latency is crucial, regardless of the software or trading platform used. Tata also says its low-latency service has been designed to offer up to 35 percent savings on circuit and operations costs. Whereas low-latency networks have traditionally been offered over MPLS or Layer 1 technologies, Tata Communications says its low-latency network is the only multipoint Ethernet service offering on a single network backed by 802.1ah, Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB) technology. It also offers added security and high scalability. Afone, a French telecom services provider, says it has deployed equipment from Ekinops to interconnect its data centers and enhance delivery of multiprotocol data services. Afone focuses on telecom, payment, and security services for enterprises and retail businesses, and also functions as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) for enterprises and residential customers. It turned to Ekinops for a platform that would provide flexible, cost-effective, and reliable data center interconnection transporting SDH, Gigabit Ethernet, and Fibre Channel protocols. Ekinops says its 360 transport platform, with its T-Chip (Transport on a Chip) technology, enables Afone to transport multiple protocols very efficiently, maximizing the use of fiber infrastructure, the vendor says. The T-Chip concentrates the equipment’s transport intelligence into a compact, efficient design that Ekinops can custom-program to meet customer needs. This approach serves to reduce costs, footprint, ongoing power consumption, and delivery times to customers, the systems house says. “Ekinops is the company best suited to meet our needs,” said Guillaume Rousseau, head of engineering at Afone. “The Ekinops 360 gives us the flexibility we need to aggregate different protocols; it is economical and has the highest reliability. Support is also very important to us and Ekinops promised and delivers superior support.”