According to BT, the calls were diverted from its PSTN network between exchanges in Cambridge and Woolwich, and are now being carried over a next generation link using IP technology. The trials have been conducted over the last six weeks using equipment from BT’s preferred suppliers for 21CN.
The majority of the calls carried were live customer calls, and a peak level of 2,500 simultaneous calls was reached. As the trial progresses, BT will increase the number of calls carried over the IP link to reflect normal loading on a similar network path.
In the spring of 2006 BT expects to start trialling telephone and broadband services across the IP network connecting around 800 BT employees.
This is a very exciting time for us – the 21CN programme is moving from vision to reality with live calls being carried over the network, said Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale in a statement.
During the past few years, BT has transformed itself from a lumbering carrier into an innovative and proactive telecoms operator. The 21CN project is just one of a number of strategies the UK telecom operator is implementing to take up the slack from its declining legacy business.
BT first announced plans in June 2004 to move its entire customer base on to an IP-based network. The move will be a world first, as it was the first time that a major carrier had agreed to totally abandon a traditional public switched telephone network in favor of an IP-based network.
The change will have huge implications for business users, and remove most of the complications involved in setting up secure virtual private networks to enable remote workers to access company networks. It also opens the way for a flood of new services such as TV over IP (IPTV) that will challenge existing satellite and cable providers.
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21CN will start coming online when BT migrates 350,000 customers in Cardiff (Wales) to its IP-based network this time next year.
BT clocks 3 million calls over IP link
BT Group Plc, the former UK telecoms incumbent, has successfully carried three million customer calls over an Internet Protocol (IP) link, in the latest phase of its 21st Century Network (21CN) trials.
According to BT, the calls were diverted from its PSTN network between exchanges in Cambridge and Woolwich, and are now being carried over a next generation link using IP technology. The trials have been conducted over the last six weeks using equipment from BT’s preferred suppliers for 21CN.
The majority of the calls carried were live customer calls, and a peak level of 2,500 simultaneous calls was reached. As the trial progresses, BT will increase the number of calls carried over the IP link to reflect normal loading on a similar network path.
In the spring of 2006 BT expects to start trialling telephone and broadband services across the IP network connecting around 800 BT employees.
This is a very exciting time for us – the 21CN programme is moving from vision to reality with live calls being carried over the network, said Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale in a statement.
During the past few years, BT has transformed itself from a lumbering carrier into an innovative and proactive telecoms operator. The 21CN project is just one of a number of strategies the UK telecom operator is implementing to take up the slack from its declining legacy business.
BT first announced plans in June 2004 to move its entire customer base on to an IP-based network. The move will be a world first, as it was the first time that a major carrier had agreed to totally abandon a traditional public switched telephone network in favor of an IP-based network.
The change will have huge implications for business users, and remove most of the complications involved in setting up secure virtual private networks to enable remote workers to access company networks. It also opens the way for a flood of new services such as TV over IP (IPTV) that will challenge existing satellite and cable providers.
21CN will start coming online when BT migrates 350,000 customers in Cardiff (Wales) to its IP-based network this time next year.
