Arrcus Adds Multicloud Networking to CoreSite Service

Arrcus announced that datacenter service provider CoreSite Realty has adopted its Arrcus Connected Edge Multi-Cloud Networking (ACE MCN) platform to power part of the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange (OCX) service. CoreSite’s OCX is a hybrid and multicloud automation and management solution.

The news is significant on a few counts. First, CoreSite customers are looking for extended capacity to support ever-expanding hybrid and multicloud networks. This has led to accelerated adoption of datacenter and interconnection services from CoreSite, Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), and Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), among others. Arrcus should benefit as enterprises and hyperscalers continue to adopt these services.

At the same time, the datacenter service providers are rolling out cloud-native management and automation for large customers. Arrcus’s ACE MCN delivers virtual routing to OCX and provides automated provisioning across multiple clouds. It also features additional provisioning within AWS and Microsoft Azure, and Arrcus says other cloud vendors will be supported “soon.”

The combination of managed datacenter services and software-based multicloud routing/switching capabilities is powerful and appears to be gaining momentum. This direction is reflected in competing services to CoreSite’s, such as Equinix’s Fabric service and Digital Realty’s SX Fabric (the latter powered by virtual routing vendor Megaport).

The trend is based on enterprises’ desire to gain control over their cloud services for faster provisioning and reduction of egress costs. They also want improved security and control over hybrid cloud environments.

A Trend Toward 5G

CoreSite's OSX service is offered in its datacenter facilities in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay, Denver, Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami, Virginia, Atlanta, and Orlando. Notably, Atlanta and Orlando were recently opened by CoreSite, and parent American Tower stresses its 5G ambitions for these sites.

Arrcus just might benefit when it comes to CoreSite’s support of 5G services, which is core to its mission as a subsidiary of American Tower. Note how American Tower’s Steve Vondran, executive vice president andp, U.S. Tower Division of American Tower, described the situation in a press release:

“CoreSite and American Tower continue to develop the infrastructure required to offer seamless, end-to-end connectivity between mobile data networks at the tower and digital platforms at the data center campus. The complementary global communications real estate portfolio and financial wherewithal that American Tower brings will continue to accelerate our growth and leadership in the emerging 5G digital ecosystem.”

All this doesn’t mean CoreSite will support 5G with Arrcus’ platform right away. As a spokesperson for Arrcus said when asked about extending its capabilities to 5G, “Regarding OCX offering 5G service, we’d have to defer to CoreSite.”

Arrcus Aims for 5G Too

Still, there’s little doubt Arrcus could benefit from CoreSite’s 5G intentions because it has aimed ACE at 5G telcos from the outset. Arrcus CEO Shekar Ayyar told Light Reading at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year:

"Think about [ACE] as a network operating system … that can do everything from core routing right down to edge and enterprise switching. And then … on top of the operating system [is] a layer of connectivity that connects on the one side to 5G networks and on the other side to cloud networks.”

Ayyar noted that in the race to get services out the door, mobile providers often skimp or neglect to address these transport issues.

Arrcus is also intent on widening its integration with 5G telcos through ecosystem partnerships. For instance, Arrcus in February 2022 announced integration with VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform, which supports 5G. It also demonstrated a Segment Routing IP version 6 (SRv6) Mobile User Plane (MUP) with SoftBank, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), and VMware (NYSE: VMW) in Barcelona.

Bottom line? The CoreSite deal puts Arrcus smack in the middle of a growing trend – with lots of competition. But it could give Arrcus some major impetus in the race ahead.