Skeeve Stevens discusses the concept of a "Cloud ISP" - an Internet Service Provider that utilizes cloud infrastructure and virtual connections between data centers rather than owning its own physical network equipment. A Cloud ISP would deploy services rapidly using virtual routers, firewalls, and other network functions hosted in multiple public clouds. This elastic, software-defined approach allows the ISP to instantly scale capacity up or down as needed, with high redundancy across cloud providers and regions. Within the next 18-24 months, Stevens predicts the necessary technologies will emerge to allow Cloud ISPs to offer full-featured connectivity and services in a disruptive way.

1. THE FUTURE
‘CLOUD ISP’
Skeeve Stevens
Network Architect / Near Futurist
COMMSDAY 2014

2. WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?
• My Journey
• The Future of ISP Infrastructure (for some)
• Virtual X-Connect Fabrics
• Cloudification
• Conceptual

3. WHAT I DO
• Design, Build and Operate the networks of ISPs,
Datacentres, Enterprises, Governments, Banks in 10
countries
• Constantly figuring out new ways to creatively use network
infrastructure, products and technologies to disrupt the
marketplace
• Get my buzz from helping the small guys compete against
the big guys – costing YOU millions
• It’s not personal… you just move too slowly and charge too
much

4. HOW I GOT HERE
• At Uni. Of Melb in 89-90 when the Internet was turned on
• Worked with the first non-Telstra ISPs in the mid 90’s
• Built Pre-Broadband ISPs using Dialup, ISDN, Frame Relay
• Built Techex - one of the first partners of RequestDSL
• Built UnitedIP - one of the first aggregator ISPs using Optus
XYZed, Uecomm, iBurst, RequestDSL, Nextep &
Connect.com.au with Telstra via other parties
• Built over 300 boutique/vertically focused Service Providers

5. CONCEPT: THE CLOUD ISP
• No, Not a Cloud Provider
• Not a reseller
• Not the old term ‘VISP’
• A REAL, multi-carrier, self managed, elastic
infrastructure, Internet Service Provider
• Almost doable – 6-18 months

6. WHY DO THIS?
• Rapid deployment of ISP environments
i.e. OTT player
• No Hardware/Licensing delays
• No equipment failures
• Scalable capacity without hardware upgrades
• Highly redundant – Multi-cloud, regions and AZs
• Minimise business risk – no capex
• Elastic Infrastructure – pay only for what you need,
when you need it
• Global reach and possibilities
• Replicatable – i.e. copy/paste in Singapore

7. THE PARTS - Now and in the next 18 months
• Vendors: Cisco, A10, Juniper, Brocade
• LNS: Cisco CSR1000v
• CGN: A10 vThunder CGN
• Firewalls: Cisco vASA, Juniper Firefly (vSRX)
• Cloud Providers: AWS, Azure, Softlayer, Google
Compute, Cisco InterCloud, … more coming
• VxC Fabrics: Megaport, IXA, Pacnet (PEN), Equinix
Cloud Exchange, Nextgen (coming?!)
• Datacentre X-Connects

8. • IP Transit – Backup paths, Diverse On-Demand capacity
• Metro Access Tails – xDSL, Fibre, MetroE, anything layer 2 or
L2TP
• International Ethernet Circuits or IPVPN – NTT, Pacnet, Optus,
Telstra, TATA, China Telecom – directly/in-directly
• VoIP - SIP Trunks, Hosted
• DDoS Protection-aaS / CleanFeed – i.e. Micron21
• Firewall-aaS - Appliances
• Remote Access-aaS (VPN) - Appliances
• Load Balancing-aaS – Appliances
• Wholesale Value-Add – Streaming, Gaming, Business Services
WHAT CAN/COULD I BUY? (For ISPs)

9. X-CONNECTS ARE EVERYTHING
Virtual (VxC)
• Megaport is one of the best examples
• MegaDirect to get to anyone who isn’t on Megaport
• It’s possible to use MegaDirect to bridge to other VxC Fabrics
– or in the future perhaps interconnects between Fabrics
• IX Australia now offering VxCs, Equinix coming
Brokering
• Creating VxCs between two end-points on VxC Fabrics like
Megaport, IX Australia and others
• Creating XCs between two racks inside DCs – possible with
Equinix today – checking with others, managed DC’s only
• Allows non-infrastructure guys to play

10. WHAT DOES IT
LOOK LIKE?

11. Megaport
Telstra Transit
BigAir
Wireless
FirstPath
vDSL & Fibre
iSeek
DSL & NBN
CGNs
Servers
IX Peering
Routers
Firewalls
THE CLOUD ISP
Servers
Vocus Transit
LNSs
Opticomm
NBN
Micron21
DDoS Protection
Desktops

12. Megaport
Others….Nextgen
Equinix Cloud
Exchange
Pacnet PEN
IX Australia
VIRTUAL X-CONNECT FABRIC PLAYERS

13. • If you’re not selling via VxC Fabrics, your competition will be
• Ease of migration from you to someone else – and back
• Hardware vendors will move to VxC Fabrics – storage, etc.
• You can ignore it, but others are already servicing the market
• They will still buy your tails, but all your VA profit will
disappear
• Enterprises are starting to buy wholesale ISP services
directly
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

14. • Machine Images still coming – many more needed
• Licensing from Vendors could be nicer
• Cloud Provider internal networking still needs developing
• Inter-connection pricing for data needs to be improved
• Terminology is a pain
• Figure it out yourself
WHAT DOESN’T WORK …YET

15. THE NEXT 24 MONTHS
• Cloud ISPs. Rapidly deployed full service ISPs
• More VxC Fabrics, on demand and fast (more 100Gb)
• Marketplaces develop, bidding for infrastructure
• A LOT more wholesale product offerings with Value-add
products making all the difference
• Fabric Inter-Connections

16. SKEEVE STEVENS
e: skeeve@eintellegonetworks.com
w: eintellegonetworks.com
t: @skeevestevens
linkedin: /in/skeeve t: @TheISPGuy
f: /theispguy
THANK YOU.
COMMSDAY 2014