Avaya, a global provider of business collaboration and communication solutions to companies, said it has been chosen by Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) to supply a next-generation network virtualization solution, bolstering agility, reliability, and access for DWTC’s extensive calendar of events covering over 100 mega exhibitions.

The new technology, known as Fabric Connect and part of Avaya’s virtual enterprise network architecture (VENA), is a fully integrated, end-to-end network virtualization solution, and is based on an enhanced implementation of the Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) standard.

Fabric Connect automates service provisioning, improves performance, and reduces outages. With this deployment, DWTC is striving to deliver best-in-class interruption-free networking services.

The Fabric Connect technology delivers a dynamic solution that responds to the needs of an organization that has to completely reconfigure itself frequently for each new event, said a statement from Avaya.

As a result, a crucial element of the project selection decision was the combination of reliability – provided by the elimination of legacy technology like Spanning Tree, an older single-path networking protocol – and flexibility that comes from centralized and automated virtual configuration capability.

Avaya’s Fabric Connect technology puts the power of multi-service network virtualization on display, as DWTC uses it to create a flexible, industry-leading solution that offers next-generation services to its exhibition clients.

The fully integrated, end-to-end solution provides all DWTC exhibitors with improved network access and connectivity, said a senior official.

"This is the beginning of a busy, exciting season at DWTC that is going to be filled with some of the biggest regional exhibitions and conferences in the Middle East. Leading into this, we wanted to look for leading innovative solutions that would vastly improve our ability to serve our exhibitors," remarked Farid Farouq, VP (Information Technology) at DWTC.

"We were looking for something that would make us better able to support the industry leaders who rely on us for excellent service. Avaya gave us that with an innovation that made us able to revolutionize the service we offer to the millions of attendees to our events each year," he noted.

Nidal Abou Ltaif, the VP of Middle East Africa and Turkey, Avaya said DWTC's deployment was a big challenge as it was not a standard customer.

"They require a solution that is at once flexible, adaptable, easy to install and alter, and almost entirely interruption-proof – given the varied and difficult requirements of their many exhibitors – but that is also powerful, scalable, effective, and has a huge capacity," Abou Ltaif pointed out.

"This was a big challenge, but it let us showcase the power innovation has to deliver results. Spanning Tree is legacy technology that struggled with these challenges, so we turned to the innovations in the Fabric Connect protocols. We demonstrated how new technologies, expertly installed, can be the innovation that solves the challenges facing Middle Eastern companies,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service