Telstra rolls out networks as a service platform

Telstra has announced the launch of its new network as a service (NaaS) platform across its business networks as part of its T22 transformation strategy.

The new platform will enable Telstra to transform the way the company delivers products to customers by simplifying the networks-IT interface, according to Telstra Executive for Product Engineering Karim Nejaim.

“Through the exposure of network services into digital platforms we enable better, simpler products and offers based on re-usable network building blocks — key to achieving our T22 product simplification strategy,” he said.

Customers will be able to access customised products and services based on a catalogue of existing services, and to assign network services as part of their standard workflows.

At the recent Telstra Vantage event in Melbourne in September, the company demonstrated the ability of NaaS to orchestrate network capabilities by enterprise customers by bringing a remote office online using a managed encrypted cloud access offering.

A foundational principal of NaaS is the use of standard application programming interfaces (APIs) both within Telstra and across the industry, according to Telstra Head of Networks as a Service 2020 Guy Lupo.

“The ability to expose network services, decoupling the integration with IT systems using standard APIs and no resource knowledge is what every service provider strives for,” he said.

Telstra has partnered with telecoms industry association TM Forum to develop open APIs supporting NaaS architecture that are expected to be widely adopted across the industry.

By partnering with companies that use TM Forum’s open APIs, Telstra will be able to more rapidly expand its catalogue of network services, Nejaim said.

Image credit: ©alphaspirit/Dollar Photo Club