UK-headquartered BT Group has signed with US interconnect and data-centre company Equinix to support its Global Fabric offer to multinational enterprises and with Canadian telecoms BSS and cloud services provider Optiva to implement new enterprise services on its application server. Both are expansions of existing supply contracts.
Of most immediate interest, perhaps, the deal with Equinix around BT’s Global Fabric platform, which stitches together local metro-edge cloud-and-network services for enterprises to ‘shop’ for faster compute services via local operators and data centre partners, means the offer covers over 30 Equinix data-centres. The number will grow to over 40 in the next year, it said. “This will span the world’s top 30 business locations covering 95 per cent of the world’s cloud interconnection traffic,” it stated.
The Global Fabric service is set to go live as a commercial proposition shortly (“early 2025”; if it hasn’t already), following tests throughout 2024. At the end of 2024, it claimed points of presence (PoPs) in around 50 of the “world’s major cloud data centres”. The total number is to increase to 140 in 40 countries at some point; testing will continue meanwhile. BT said its Global Fabric footprint “will be one of the largest of any NaaS (network-as-a-service) platform”. Its global remit is designed to suit international firms’ operational, market and regulatory needs.
BT stated: “It will offer 74 per cent direct coverage of hyperscaler clouds and pre-provisioned high-bandwidth connectivity to over 700 data-centres.” Application programming interfaces (APIs), as per the industry’s broader move to open 5G networks, will help customers to integrate connectivity into other business platforms and apps. Customers can order new PoP links to be ready for the service’s commercial launch. It said: “With legacy networks, setting up or changing connectivity could take weeks. With Global Fabric, it happens in an instant.”
Equinix’s platform interconnects multiple clouds hosting the apps, solutions, and marketplaces – “underpinning the digital economy”, said BT. It provides access to 2,000-odd network services, 3,000-odd cloud and IT services, 400-odd content and digital media services, and 4,800 enterprises – apparently. BT already has a deal with Equinix for quantum secure comms – “following the joint achievement of the UK’s first data centre to data centre connection using the technology”, it said. BT called the deal a “terrific example… to build the strongest digital foundations”.
Meanwhile, BT’s new arrangement with Optiva, following a deal 12 months ago to upgrade its Application Server platform, is about support for business-to-business (B2B) and ‘B2B-to-anything’ (B2B2X) services. A statement explained: “Central to this initiative is Optiva Charging Engine, a cloud-native, open-architecture service creation platform featuring Optiva’s Open API framework. The advancement will enhance BT Group’s ability to grow cutting-edge services and create new revenue opportunities.”
The story goes that the 2024 platform upgrade allowed BT to “evolve from legacy technology, modernise services, and increase 5G network coverage penetration with a fully flexible service creation environment”. The new platform brings “rapid design, testing, deployment, and integration capabilities”, it said. Now, the duo are now “advanc(ing) the platform to the next level by integrating B2B services to enhance and deliver their network convergence capabilities with unmatched flexibility”. This means any-core network support, modern APIs, and autonomous operations.
BT said it will “rapidly evolve [its] service offerings for customers” and “deploy platforms [to] drive… tech capabilities and solutions.” Optiva called the deal a “milestone” in its partnership with BT.
