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BT 21st century network trials on track
as voice calls run on IP link
BT’s 21st century network transformation programme is set to have
passed three significant milestones by the end of this week. Trials to
divert the first customer calls off the public switched telephone network
(PSTN) onto a dedicated internet protocol (IP) link have gone live; the
first homes have been connected up in BT’s fibre to the premises
trial; and the third 21CN network node is due to be commissioned today.
A new IP link between the major network nodes at Cambridge and Woolwich
in South East London, along with softswitches (advanced software-based
switching platforms) installed at these locations, enables telephone calls
to bypass a major traffic route in BT’s PSTN. This represents a key
step towards the creation of BT’s next generation network, as announced
in June.
Over the coming weeks BT plans to begin adding call traffic from 38 digital
local exchange units onto the 21CN nodes. These exchanges in Cambridgeshire,
Essex, Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Hertfordshire serve more than 1.5million
lines between them. Once complete next month, the volume of calls being
handled by the trial platform will represent around 1 per cent of BT’s
current PSTN trunk network call traffic - equivalent to about 10,000 simultaneous
calls at the busiest time of the day.
Commissioning of the third 21CN network node, at Faraday exchange in
London is due to begin today. Faraday will be a key site when the trial
is extended to handle end to end customer calls over the IP network in
January.
BT Wholesale chief executive Paul Reynolds said: “This is a historic
occasion – the PSTN has served us well for over a hundred years.
Now, for the first time, we have public voice on a single IP network where
voice calls are transmitted in data packets.
“Our 21CN ambitions have fundamental and far-reaching implications
for BT, for the telecommunications industry and, I believe, for the UK
economy and society too. With 21CN, BT is leading the world and transforming
our industry - it's radical and truly unprecedented in scope and scale.
“We set a challenging timescale to put the building blocks in place
for the trials which underpin 21CN and we have delivered these first steps.
The technology works. Now we can move forward. We propose to extend participation
in the voice trial to others in the industry and will be consulting operators
in the coming weeks about the best way to do this.”
BT’s 21CN programme is designed to remove duplication across the
existing multiple, service specific networks to create a single converged
multi-service IP based network.
- Call flows between the Cambridge and Woolwich network
nodes began to be diverted on October 30 on to the softswitches and
bypass route using IP packet technology. Call flows over this 21CN platform
will include some call traffic being carried over the network by BT
Wholesale on behalf of other operators.
- Nominated digital local exchange units (DLEs) at Bishop’s
Stortford, Boston, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Peterborough
will be hosted by the Cambridge network node and the nominated DLEs
at Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Spalding will be hosted
on the Woolwich network node.
- This is a key step towards a migration which will ultimately
see all calls over BT’s network carried using IP packet technology.
BT plans the large scale migration of voice and other PSTN based services
from 2006.
- The 21CN trial deploying fibre optic cables in the
access network is also underway with the first customers now connected.
Network construction has been completed at the trial sites and the first
customer connections went live at the end of October.
- BT plans to provide telephone and broadband services
over access fibre to around 100 BT employees over the next two months,
before extending the trial to about 1,500 customers in Martlesham Heath
in Suffolk, Milton Keynes and London’s Docklands by March 2005.
The fibre trial is designed to inform future strategic investment decisions.
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