Dublin and Belfast tech firms unite to put AI into the networks of the future

27 Feb 2017

Image: asharkyu/Shutterstock

Two Irish tech firms, north and south, hold the AI-based future of networks in their hands.

Belfast-based Ampliphae and Dublin-based Iricent are bringing artificial intelligence (AI) into the future of networks at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The two companies have forged a partnership aimed at helping telcos exploit advances in software defined networking (SDN) and network-based AI.

‘Enterprises need new techniques to help them regain control of cloud adoption in an era where end-users are increasingly able to self-select and use cloud applications within the business domain’
– TREVOR GRAHAM

Ampliphae is a Belfast-based technology company specialising in cloud network analytics and control.

Dublin-based Iricent provides SDN and network functions virtualisation (NFV) based on open networking solutions, applications and services.

IDC predicts that, by 2018, 36pc of the global enterprise application market will be cloud-based, presenting IT managers with unprecedented challenges in managing and controlling the new enterprise application infrastructure.

From an enterprise perspective, however, traditional networking services remain too complex, costly and inflexible to effectively support their transition to a cloud-first application delivery model.

Defining the future of networks

The Ampliphae-Iricent partnership addresses these challenges by combining the strengths of both companies, creating an offering for service providers to give their enterprise customers deeper insights and more control of cloud adoption across their businesses.

“With the massive growth in cloud application usage across businesses, coupled with the emergence of shadow IT, the role of IT within the enterprise is changing dramatically,” said Trevor Graham of Ampliphae.

“Enterprises need new techniques to help them regain control of cloud adoption in an era where end-users are increasingly able to self-select and use cloud applications within the business domain. Our collaboration with Iricent allows our customers to leverage the insights that we provide to deliver a cloud-aware network that automatically adapts to rapidly-changing patterns of cloud application consumption.”

Ampliphae uses advanced statistical analysis of network traffic flows, combined with machine learning techniques, to identify, classify and profile all of the cloud applications being used across the enterprise.

Iricent’s OpenDaylight-based SDN solution, APNOS, then uses this information, combined with other network traffic identification techniques, to automate the process of network resource allocation with application-level granularity, ensuring that business-critical cloud services are prioritised.

“Working with Ampliphae adds a new dimension to our offering, providing comprehensive insights into how cloud applications are being adopted and used across the enterprise, and using that information to provide fine-grained, automated control of how the network is configured to ensure optimum performance,” explained Ger O’Byrne, director of Iricent.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com