AT&T Trumpets SDN Milestone, Reiterates Virtualization Goal

AT&T’s five-year journey to virtualize its network reached another turning point this week. The operator says 75% of the data running through MPLS tunnels is now under SDN control. This achievement, while related, is separate from the company’s often-stated goal of virtualizing 75% of its network functions by 2020. AT&T CTO Andre Fuetsch reiterated that goal during a keynote at ONF Connect today. “We have taken a long journey here and made it happen. There was no way we could have done this alone. We really needed the help of a community and that community was really this ecosystem we need around SDN,” Fuetsch said. “Eight years ago we were all trying to figure out what SDN was exactly and how it was going to solve all these network challenges we have, but really SDN is now becoming the network,” he said. “White box hardware coupled with open source software creates this disaggregated, virtualized, and software-defined environment that finally gives us a chance to survive all this growth and change.”