Catching Up with Overture Networks: 2012 and What to Expect in the New Year

When checking the weather on the East Coast, it calls for a heavy chance of rain but no side of “end of the world.” Therefore, it’s safe to say we’re going to live to see another day; however, we should still treat our technological investments with just as much fervor. Across the board, the technology space has expanded into a metaphoric Grand Canyon, growing wider and infinitely deeper everyday with new developments, advancements and tools for optimum efficiency.

In light of this, I had the pleasure of speaking with Prayson Pate, co-founder and CTO of Overture Networks (News - Alert), who applied his over 24 years experience in the space to get down to the nitty gritty of what directly impacted 2012, how it was shaped for 2013 and what plans the company has up its sleeves for the New Year.

Overture Networks is a developer and manufacturer of high-speed, award-winning Carrier Ethernet Edge and aggregation solutions that work to multiply revenue and streamline operational costs by cost-effectively enabling high-capacity Ethernet services over any physical media, including fiber, copper and TDM. Self-described as “harnessing the power of Carrier Ethernet to create an entrance to a smarter network,” Overture is a preferred partner to more than 450 service providers and enterprise customers worldwide.

Looking back over 2012, Pate mentions having seen a few trends in the market that directly impacted Overture. Perhaps not too shockingly, mobility was the first. “The ongoing expansion of all things mobile is driving capacity and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements that can only be met by an improved Carrier Ethernet,” Pate explains. “This, in turn has led to the introduction and growing industry acceptance of the MEF (News - Alert) CE2.0 Standard to streamline and improve the deployment of Carrier Ethernet solutions worldwide.”

Outside this CE2.0 trend, Pate notes the emergence and consideration of Software Defined Networking (SDN) as “a much more important component in the public network.” He adds, “SDN is setting a course towards what could be called an ‘open services architecture,’ which will empower service providers to monetize their networks in ways that were not previously possible. As a result…Overture joined the Open Network Foundation in October.”

2012 treated Overture well, having not only won numerous industry product awards and company acknowledgements, but also completing a merger with Hatteras Networks (News - Alert) back in 2011 as well as successfully implementing an extensive rebranding initiative this year. Additionally, the company’s board of directors appointed Mike Aquino as its new President and CEO, who would take the company to thriving new heights.

As the nation toasts to a healthy and happy New Year, Overture continues to remain committed to a few things. One being “introducing an even more comprehensive Carrier Ethernet solution into the marketplace to help service providers and network operators address their key pain points and deploy new services,” which according to Pate, will include important new software initiatives in areas such as virtualization as well as an open services architecture. Pate added that another area of focus in 2013 is expanding its presence outside of the U.S.

In conclusion, Pate expects to see four major industry trends in 2013:

• Demonstrations of SDN in the Wide Area Network (WAN), which will lead to the first live deployments.
• Service providers further embracing MEF CE2.0, as the standard will begin to show up as a requirement in RFPs in order to bolster and streamline global interconnectivity.
• 2013 will see the first significant deployments of outdoor small cells to meet the ever-increasing capacity demands being driven by smart phone and mobile device users.
• Increased regulation of data networking and applications, which will likely include such things as changes to the rules for access to unbundled copper, more taxes on data services and Web commerce, expansion of the reach of Net Neutrality in the US and broader country-by-country regulation of Internet access and content.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.