China Mobile taps Brocade software for SDN cloud rollout

China Mobile will deploy NFV software from Brocade at several of its key data centers as part of its first SDN-based commercial public cloud rollout.

The operator is deploying virtual traffic management technology from the networking vendor, initially at its Southern Base and Northern Base data centers.

The deployment will be conducted in conjunction with China Mobile’s strategic SDN and NFV supplier Nokia. Brocade’s software will run within the Nuage Networks virtual service platform, which is being implemented by Nokia as part of a project announced last week.

China Mobile is playing a major role in the Chinese government’s Internet Plus initiative to support the development of new business models enabled by ICT, such as fixed and mobile internet connectivity, cloud, big data and the IoT.

As part of this effort, China Mobile has taken on the role of a large-scale cloud service provider for major enterprise and government customers, and is deploying SDN-based cloud services to support these operations.

“The promise of network functions virtualization is the ability to scale services on demand. When it comes to service providers, they don’t come much bigger than China Mobile in terms of potential scale,” Brocade China country manager Henry Zhu said.

“We’re naturally delighted that Brocade’s advanced NFV appliance technology has been selected by China Mobile. This is a groundbreaking project within China’s service provider landscape and we are fully committed to ensuring it results in complete success.”