Tata IZO Platform Promises To Enable Public, Private And Hybrid Cloud

Tata Communications says its new IZO network platform will allow businesses to connect more quickly and securely to the cloud service of their choice, whether they have a public, private or hybrid cloud strategy.

IZO is billed by the company as a “cloud enablement platform” that offers network, cloud and data connectivity in a single service, providing assurances that traffic can be carried securely and rapidly.

There are three main components to the platform – IZO Internet WAN, IZO Private and IZO Public – which has the support of 20 service providers, links to 50 data centres and direct connections to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.

Private networks

IZO Internet WAN promises to bring the security, flexibility and predictability of a private network to the public Internet thanks to partnerships with a number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world, who can offer predictable routing of traffic, end-to-end Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and business standard reporting.

The benefits of this are that businesses don’t have to invest in expensive private networks and can take advantage of the global reach of the Internet. Twenty ISPs have signed up for the service, including the UK’s TalkTalk.

“IZO Internet WAN is a game changing deployment of a global Internet-based WAN service that gives businesses the flexibility and predictability of a private network, with the global reach of the Internet,” says Charles Bligh, managing director of TalkTalk Business. “TalkTalk is delighted to be the first UK connectivity supplier to Tata Communications for this service.”

Public cloud

The second component is IZO Private, which connects businesses to AWS and Azure thanks to direct connections, while IZO Public prioritises Tata’s enterprise customer’s content across its global network.

“We’re taking the necessary steps towards making the Internet fit for business by bringing a new level of predictability and reliability to the public Internet that does not exist today,” says Vinod Kumar, managing director and CEO of Tata Communications. “This isn’t something we can do alone and we’re joined in this initiative to bring about a new era of internet, by some of the world’s leading ISP and cloud providers as we collaborate to achieve a common goal.

“Cloud, in every form, continues to transform the way businesses operate, innovate and generate revenue. Our role is to make sure that we’re delivering a network that supports and enhances everybody’s network cloud.”

Both Amazon and Microsoft have announced major upgrades to their respective cloud platforms this month, with the former opening new data centres in Frankfurt and with the latter updating Azure with a range of new big data applications.

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