The company revealed that at the centre of the Intelligent Edge launch is its new EdgeMarc 6000, which integrates Ribbon’s edge services into a single, modular platform that can be extended to meet an organisation’s future needs. The product physically connects existing enterprise communications infrastructure and has the capacity to run containerised network functions.
In addition to improving voice and data applications, the Ribbon Next Generation Intelligent Edge portfolio’s LTE radio capabilities further enhance connectivity as a failover network for business continuity.
Kevin Isacks, VP of Edge Engineering and Products, Ribbon Communications, told UC Today in an exclusive interview that this latest version has a couple of major differences from previous versions, which were closed boxes that couldn’t be added to in terms of extra functionality.
“The 6000 is engineered on top of an open platform, allowing third party containers to run on it. The customer, either through a provider or directly can actually run on top of it a particular SDN or firewall of their choice versus the one we have built in,” he said.
Isacks added that one of the things that Ribbon recognises is the need for best of breed which a lot of providers are solving using universal customer premises equipment.
“The reality is that it is an Intel server. By the time you add on the network operating system, and all the different components, you end up with quite an expensive device,” he added.
“What we are offering is what providers are looking for, but at a more attractive cost point as well as giving them that flexibility”
The second major difference from previous versions is the inclusion of LTE and, the ability to upgrade to 5G.
WAN is evolving
“We have recognised that the WAN as we know it, is evolving; fixed line is no longer the only option for business-grade service. You can get business grade out of LTE and out of pure-play 5G systems.”
Isacks said that the roadmap for this product line will include more flexibility and more interfaces.
“This initial version has eight analogue ports, PRIs, and all the legacy stuff, which as the providers turn off those interfaces and the customers still have the need for them and are legally required to have them, you need to be able to provide a transition for,” said Isacks.
Isacks added that Ribbon would continue to work with different ecosystems. “One of the things that’s of particular interest to us is in the IoT space.” He said that future versions will be able to categorise and flag rogue devices and then work out when they have not been behaving in the way they should.
Isacks added that future platforms would be able “to take IoT and actually secure it for enterprises, so that it’s no longer just a wild wild west of every single different device running its own little sandbox”.
Recently, Ribbon has partnered with Etisalat on a cloud-based business unified communication and collaboration service for small and medium businesses (SMB) and enterprise customers in the UAE. Dubbed CloudTalk, the service offers customers an integrated communication solution for their internal and external communication and collaboration needs. The service is delivered over a carrier-grade cloud private branch exchange (PBX) replacing the legacy setups.
