July 26, 2006 London -- BT says the transformation of its network to deliver next-generation communications services took a major step forward today with more than 23 million customer calls successfully carried over the IP-based trial network.
In this latest trial stage of the 21st Century Network (21CN) program, more than 625,000 live customer calls currently are being handled every day.
The trial involves the use of an IP link to carry voice calls between two major network nodes at Cambridge and Woolwich. Calls are carried using IP packet technology rather than the circuit switched technology used on the traditional analog telephone network.
The success of the trial represents a significant step towards the creation of BT's next generation network, say company representatives. It builds on the previous trial, which ran from October to December 2005, where fourteen million calls were successfully carried on the IP network and voice quality monitoring carried out.
Equipment upgrades are bringing the trial network closer to the ultimate 21CN design that will be rolled out across the UK. Multi-service access nodes or MSANs from Huawei and Fujitsu are already in use, carrying voice services onto the core network from trial customer lines. This equipment is being installed at 18 exchanges in South East London, Kent, and East Anglia.
For this stage of the trial, BT also has newly introduced Cisco's media gateway, Ericsson's call server, and a Cisco Catalyst Switch. Other key technology components are Alcatel's LAN switch and Siemens/Juniper routers used in a previous 21CN voice trial.
"21CN is gathering momentum as we head towards the start of customer lines being switched to the new network in South Wales in November," reports Deb Covey, managing director of BT Wholesale Networks. "We are working with the rest of the industry to finalize the UK rollout plan. It's full steam ahead as we prepare sites across the country for equipment to be installed this summer."
The volume of calls being handled by the trial platform will represent around 1% of BT's current PSTN trunk network call traffic. The trial is set to be completed ahead of the first stage of mass customer migration to the new all-IP network. Commencing in November 2006, this will involve migrating some 350,000 end customer lines in Cardiff and the surrounding area.
BT's eight strategic equipment suppliers for 21CN are Alcatel, Ciena, Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Lucent, and Siemens. 21CN suppliers have been chosen across each of five strategic domains of access, metro, core, i-nodes, and transmission equipment.