Cyan makes software move with CyPortal, Service Level Aware Network framework

Cyan, which initially positioned itself as a provider of modular packet-optical transport systems, now wants customers to think of the company as a software provider as well. To help matters, it has dropped “Optics” from the brand name (although not the official company name) and introduced CyPortal, a multi-vendor, multi-layer SLA assurance and verification service. It also unveiled its Service Level Aware Networks framework, which includes a software suite called Cy360. The goal is to enable carriers to efficiently provision and manage service-level agreements (SLAs) – even in networks that don’t use Cyan equipment.

CyPortal is a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) offering that Frank Wiener, Cyan’s vice president of marketing and international sales, says the company will host on Amazon’s EC2 platform. The offering will provide SLA verification and reporting, initially based on Ethernet Y.1731. Wiener says that the company eventually will support other types of SLA monitoring, including OTN and SONET/SDH, as well.

Cyan’s goal is to equip CyPortal to manage SLAs in multivendor environments. To that end, CyPortal will roll out with the ability to oversee networks containing Overture Networks’ ISG 24 and 26 network interface devices (NIDs) as well as Accedian Networks’ EtherNIDs and MetroNIDs. In fact, Cyan’s first announced CyPortal customer, DukeNet Communications, is using the tool to verify services supported by Overture Networks NIDs, Wiener says. He adds that the list of third-party platforms CyPortal will support should grow “significantly” this summer.

Cyan has rolled CyPortal, its CyPlan planning tool, its CyMS multi-layer element management system, and its recently announced CyNOC network operations capability into the Cy360 software suite under the Service Aware Networks framework. While services are converging towards packet-based formats, networks generally aren’t evolving rapidly enough to keep pace, Wiener says. Thus, the Service Aware Networks framework and Cy360 will enable carriers to plan, verify, and manage packet-based services and SLAs in multi-layer, multivendor environments in which services with like SLA requirements can be aggregated across similar routes.

The offering also will enable network planners to optimize routes for latency in a future release, Wiener adds.

The Service Aware Network framework currently works fully only with Cyan equipment, but Wiener says the company plans to add full multivendor capabilities in the future.

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