July 8, 2004 Munich, Germany -- Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the largest telecommunications provider in Saudi Arabia, has signed a contract with Siemens IC Networks for the delivery and installation of optical transmission technology. The framework agreement, worth a double-digit million euro figure, primarily encompasses the newly developed multi-service provisioning platform (MSPP) SURPASS hiT 70xx.
A first tranche of the contract has already been ordered for building an SDH-based transmission ring in the eastern province of the country. The new route is planned to go into operation this month.
Through the use of Siemens' transport technology, the Saudi Arabian carrier will be able to offer its customers data services based on Ethernet and storage area networking (SAN) services alongside classical SDH services. The various integrated technologies will be controlled by the TNMS network management system from Siemens already in use by STC. The network management system requires just a software update, thereby enabling STC to migrate smoothly and cost-effectively to a convergent, IP-optimized network, explain Siemens representatives.
