Peter Maquera (Globe Business)
Globe Telecom has launched a network virtualisation platform in the Philippines, heralded as a first-of-its-kind for a local telecommunications provider amid plans to drive wide-scale SD-WAN adoption.
Delivered via enterprise arm Globe Business, the offering leverages internal network function virtualisation orchestrator (NFVO) capabilities to allow businesses nationwide to roll out SD-WAN environments, backed by cyber security and communications applications.
Such virtualised network functions include SD-WAN enhancements and virtual firewalls (vFW), with the aim of allowing businesses to use existing connectivity to deploy virtual private networks to any location. Meanwhile, vFW is designed to allow customers the ability to grant or block traffic to protect private networks against cyber threats.
“Before NFVO came to fruition, companies were required to install multiple hardware to get their network running seamlessly,” said Peter Maquera, senior vice president of Globe Business. “With the limitations caused by Covid-19 and the ever-rising demand for internet connectivity, it became apparent that virtualisation would be the next step to revolutionise networks.
“NFVO provides businesses with stable, reliable and scalable networks by replacing physical appliances, such as routers, firewalls, IP PBX systems and load balancers, with virtual ones.”
According to Maquera, NFVO also enables businesses to connect to cloud resources, automate branch connectivity, manage network traffic and enable routing, in addition to leveraging firewall security, virtual private network connectivity and subscription-based telephony services hosted in Globe data centres.
“Aside from the security, real-time network visibility, and control that NFVO gives, the platform also equips businesses with a competitive edge through speed and agility,” Maquera added. “A physical network set-up usually takes more than a month.
“With Globe’s scalable solution, service-level agreements are cut down to mere hours, if they already have existing connectivity in place, leading to more cost savings and no interruptions to services, since everything’s virtual.”
Globe’s NFVO forms part of wider plans to enhance digital transformation packages for customers, with a specific focus on connectivity, cyber security and cloud solutions.
Protecting K-CAT
Meanwhile, and to address a growing need for secure connectivity services, Kabankalan Community Antenna Television (K-CAT) recently partnered with Globe Business to bolster cyber security offerings.
“Seeing that demand for connectivity has steadily increased over the past months, we knew that we needed to upgrade our cyber security,” said Joel Dabao, president and CEO of K-CAT. “However, doing so would mean investing in manpower, technology, and training. Thanks to Globe we were able to do just that—minus the time and effort of putting up a whole new cyber security department.”
Through Globe Secure Internet Access (SIA), K-CAT received on-demand incident response support as well as premium internet service, cyber consulting and priority incident response support from Secureworks, a vendor alliance partner of Globe.
“At Globe, we take security seriously,” Maquera added. “It’s every business’s responsibility to add a cyber security layer to their initiatives. Digital transformation is not without its challenges, especially when business success also means that threats are more than ready to strike at any moment.”
