Digital businesses rely on connectivity. Having it is essential, but estimating network bandwidth requirements is a game of chance. In today’s business environment, no one can always accurately predict if business will spike, drop or come to a complete halt.

Telecommunications provider PCCW Global Ltd. heard its customers’ frustration at being asked to lock into contracts that required set bandwidth commitments for a year, or even three years. So, they offered more flexible terms.

“We allow for anything from one day up to three years right now, and then even within that term, we’re dynamic,” said Jay Turner (pictured, right) vice president of development and operations at PCCW Global Ltd.

Turner and Garrett Lowell (pictured, left), VP at PCCW Global, spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during AWS re:Invent. They discussed how the Console Connect platform makes it easier to directly connect to the Amazon Web Services cloud and to PWWC’s entire global partner ecosystem. (* Disclosure below.)

Console Connect automates direct connection

In its role as the international operating wing of Hong Kong Telecom, PCCW built out 685,000 kilometers of diverse fiber cable that directly connected the globe. The tier-one service provider also owns a diverse portfolio of assets that range from satellite teleports to internet protocol transit, according to Turner. Realizing that it could capitalize on its existing infrastructure to benefit its users, PWWC created its Console Connect software-defined interconnection platform.

“So we built a user self-service portal,” Turner stated.

Users can provision connectivity across the platform, extending to their data centers or extending to their branch office, building a circuit into the cloud via AWS Direct Connect or building a circuit into an internet exchange, according to Turner.

“And all of those circuits are going to be across that 685,000 kilometers of diverse fiber rather than going across the public internet,” he stated.

While AWS provides Direct Connect, “figuring out how to do that as an enterprise was challenging,” Lowell stated. Taking a leaf from AWS’ playbook, PWWC has taken over the heavy lifting and automated the process. Customers choose the AWS region they want to connect to, and PWWC provides a virtual LAN tag.

“We’re directly connected to AWS throughout the globe, and this allows our customers and partners to be able to utilize not only the PCCW Global network, but also to expand that capability to the AWS platform in clouds,” Lowell said.

An added value is that PWWC partners and customers can not only access AWS and other cloud platforms, but also access each other.

“We have a marketplace in our platform which allows our customers and partners to put a description of their services on the marketplace and advertise their capabilities out to the rest of the ecosystem of PCCW Global and Console Connect,” Lowell said.

Another advantage is that the customer doesn’t have to be directly co-located with AWS, according to Turner.

“If for some reason you need to be connected to US West but you’re in Frankfurt, fine, we’ll back all the traffic for you,” he said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: PCCW Global Ltd. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither PCCW nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE