Alcatel-Lucent's CloudBand targets service providers

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) has rolled out a new solution, called CloudBand, that it says represents a new class of carrier cloud services, which will allow service providers to bring the benefits of the cloud to their own networks and business operations.

CloudBand brings together the computing power and flexibility of the cloud with the high performance, reliability and security of communications networks, putting carriers in an ideal position to offer a new range of high-performance cloud services to enterprises and consumers, said Alcatel-Lucent.

The company is hoping its new offering will be able to overcome the reluctance that enterprise customers, SMBs and governments have shown to invest heavily in cloud solutions. A September survey from SWC Technology Partners showed that one-in-five respondents said they were reluctant to push their operations into the cloud because of concerns over privacy and security.

Nevertheless, service providers have committed $11 billion to could investments in 2011, said Informa analyst Camille Mendler. And a play like Alcatel-Lucent's, one that focuses on control and better performance, could pay off.

CloudBand has two parts: the CloudBand Management System, delivering orchestration and optimization of services between the communications network and the cloud; and the CloudBand Node, which provides the computing, storage and networking hardware and associated software to host a wide range of cloud services.

Bringing the computing and communications network assets together will be a challenge in making the carrier cloud a reality. CloudBand features algorithms developed by Bell Labs to orchestrate the network, as well as computing and data storage elements distributed throughout the network. The result is a single, flexible service delivery and computing platform that can support a wide range of services. That, in turn, eliminates the need for dedicated hardware platforms for each individual service.

CloudBand will be available for deployment in the first half of 2012.

For more:
- see this TechWorld article
- see this release

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