The Internet and ubiquitous broadband have made a transformation in the way enterprises manage applications, giving rise to the concept of Cloud Computing which has completely changed the way enterprises communicate with each other. Nowadays, enterprises are relying on Cloud communications, while building and deploying enterprise communications systems.
Sonus Networks is one of the industry leaders enabling this transition, providing customers with an award-winning portfolio of hardware-based and virtualized Session Border Controllers (SBCs), Diameter Signaling Controllers (DSCs), Cloud Exchange Networking capabilities, Policy/Routing servers and Media/Signaling Gateways.
Since its founding in 1997, Sonus has strived to improve its products in order enable secure, reliable and scalablereal-time communications. As a company, Sonus’ vision is to combine fine-grained session and network policy, SDN-enabled network edge security, and scalability without compromise to enhance and secure the real-time Cloud-based networks of the future.
Sonus offers a completely virtualized product portfolio to service providers and enterprises looking to virtualize their communication networks in order to reduce the time, risk and expense of introducing new services within their networks. By using a common management and provisioning interface across their entire hardware and software product portfolio, Sonus is able to provide a low cost path for existing customers as they evolve their networks to virtualization architecture – a big differentiator in the marketplace and something that resonates well with customers today.
Kevin Riley, Growth Enabler of Sonus
Kevin Riley, SVP and CTO of Sonus holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and MS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. Since joinging Sonus in 2005, Kevin has held various engineering positions. It was in 2016 that Kevin was named Senior Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer at Sonus. Having over two decades of experience in software development and engineering, Kevin has been instrumental in Sonus’ efforts to drive an industry leading technology roadmap.
While Kevin is focused on leading Sonus’ global engineering team, his main goal is to drive Sonus’ innovation and development activities, with a particular focus on enabling Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Cloud-based architectures of the future.
While talking about their virtualization technology Kevin says, “I’ve heard companies, state they’re not ready for virtualization technology yet, and that’s okay. With Sonus they can purchase hardware first, and when they decide they are ready, it becomes a straightforward migration to integrate our virtualized solutions into their network. We support all hardware, software and hybrid-based deployment models. No worrying about interoperability. No need to re-train the staff. The initial investment in Sonus is protected as customers migrate to our virtual products.”
The Next Generation of Cloud-based SIP and 4G/VoLTE Solutions
Bringing the next generation of Cloud-based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and 4G/Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) solutions to its customers, Sonus is enabling and securing mission critical traffic for Voice over IP, video, instant message and online collaboration.
With Sonus, enterprises can intelligently secure and prioritize real-time communications, while service providers can deliver reliable, secure real-time services for mobile, unified communications and social applications. Sonus offers a variety of solutions for service providers and enterprises that help them unify their communications networks while maintaining security.
Antithesis Approach of Sonus
Market consolidation, increased competition and transitioning technologies are some of the roadblocks every company stumbles upon, but with an antithesis approach, Sonus is facing them head on, differentiating from the competition.
Since the completion of their virtualization strategy, Sonus has focused thoroughly, in helping organizations migrate real-time communications and mission critical applications to the Cloud. Kevin says, “We’ve realized that as customers move beyond single instance virtualization to a full NFV/Cloud implementation, certifying interoperability in the ecosystem of orchestration technology providers becomes increasingly important. We’ve partnered with market-leading orchestration vendors such as Juniper, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Overture to facilitate Virtual Network Functions implementations and will continue testing with our entire virtualized product portfolio.”
Additionally, Sonus has increased focus on security, which is a hot topic amongst organizations looking to move infrastructure off premises. With the acquisition of Treq in 2015, Sonus has aquired a technology asset called VellOS that provides critical network intelligence for security by dynamically looking at network topologies and flows. VellOS provides a programmable, topology aware, policy enforcement point for the entire network, and by combining this with Sonus’ SBC portfolio, delivers customers with complete “end-to-end” network security, which is something unique in the market.
“Client is the top priority”
While talking about the client relationship Kevin adds, “I think most telecommunications vendors would ideally like to start in a “greenfield” environment in order to better help their customers get to their desired goal as quickly as possible. However, as most vendors know this is an unlikely starting point, and for Sonus that’s something we’re okay with. We’re dedicated to helping each service provider and enterprise that comes our way, whether they’re looking to migrate to an all IP or Cloud network, increase revenue through new services, or enhance their network with security and intelligence. Whatever the need, Sonus is committed to working with each customer to achieve the best possible architecture model for their specific network.”
What’s “In The Cards” for Sonus
Having started as a company assisting service providers’ migrations from circuit to packet-based networks, Sonus is now focusing on helping companies migrate to Cloud-based networks at their own pace. The Cloud business case has been proven and many organizations are beginning their migration in order to obtain the benefits the Cloud provides. Yet, there is a concern from customers and prospects relating to application security and performance. Kevin says, “That’s the opportunity that excites me. I envision Sonus as the leading provider of intelligent solutions that secure and assure real-time service delivery in the new Cloud architecture.”
In the near future, Sonus is about to introduce some new solutions that will help to make Cloud-based communications more secure, reliable, scalable and intelligent.
“Golden Words” for the Startups by Kevin Riley
“Each technology company is different; they have different applications, goals and missions. So it is difficult to cast suggestions that cover the needs of all startups. However, if your organization is able to embrace Cloud-based deployment models, provide intuitive, easy-to-use applications that empower the growing mobile workforce and embed security into the DNA of your applications and services, you’ll be off to a great start.”
