Cyxtera Technologies launched the Cyxtera Extensible Data Center (CXD) Platform, a software-powered data center architecture that offers customers on-demand provisioning to a host of colocation and connectivity services.
By combining a network and services provisioning engine with an intra-data center software-defined network fabric, the CXD platform allows colocation customers to provision services on demand or via a web console.
Customers can run distributed environments within and across data centers without the need to depend on contiguous floor space. From a single network cross-connect, CXD’s Unified Services Port allows customers to easily take advantage of any CXD-powered service. Service and management connectivity is protected by AppGate SDP, Cyxtera’s flagship secure access solution.
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Randy Rowland, president and general manager of data center services for Cyxtera, said in a release that the new service is about accelerating the time to access and provision new services.
“It can take months to deploy a single application, from provisioning circuits to building out infrastructure in a colocation cage,” Rowland said in a release.
CXD also includes two key features: Unified Services Port and Network Exchange. The Unified Services Port enables access to multiple data center services over a single physical port, while the Network Exchange provides automated provisioning to select network service providers.
Cyxtera also announced its initial CXD-powered solutions including CXD Compute Nodes, an on-demand hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution.
Leveraging Nutanix HCI, Cyxtera claims its CXD Compute Nodes cost up to 50% less than racking and stacking traditional infrastructure with the same single-tenancy levels of management, control, and security. A customer has the option to provision dedicated HCI nodes on demand via the CXD API or web console, eliminating design-to-peak inefficiencies and speeding time to market.
A cloud and managed hosting provider customer can use CXD Nodes to quickly add capability in new or existing markets without the burden of staffing and capital investment, while enterprises can reduce the time to deploy new or augment existing colocation infrastructure from weeks and months to hours.
The new capabilities are being coupled with CXD IP Connect, Cyxtera’s high-speed, redundant internet connectivity. As a blended internet bandwidth service, CXD IP Connect enables customers to quickly provision connectivity aggregated from multiple service providers.
Delivered on-demand via CXD, IP Connect reduces weeks of waiting for circuit provisioning, Cyxtera said. Offering a mix of fixed and burstable options and 24/7 monitoring, IP Connect also enables customers to respond quickly to changes in demand and accommodate future growth.