Six Million Voice Calls Carried Over the 21CN Trial Network in 10 Days
BT's transformation of its network to deliver the next generation of communications services has taken a major step forward with over six million customer calls successfully carried over the IP based network in just 10 days.
In this latest trial stage of the 21st Century Network (21CN) programme, more than 625,000 live customer calls are currently 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 analogue telephone network.
The success of the trial represents a significant step towards the creation of BT’s next generation network. It builds on the previous trial which ran from October to December 2005 where 14 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. In this trial BT has newly introduced Cisco’s media gateway; Ericsson’s call server and a Cisco Cat Switch. Other key technology components are Alcatel’s LAN switch and Siemens/Juniper routers used in a previous 21CN voice trial.
Over the coming weeks the volume of calls being handled by the trial platform will represent around three per cent of BT’s current PSTN trunk network call traffic – equivalent to about 15,000 calls per hour. This stage of the trial is scheduled to be completed by the autumn.
This will dovetail with the installation of new equipment at 18 exchanges in South East London, Kent and East Anglia – which will be connected to the network nodes in Cambridge and Woolwich. This equipment, known as multi service access nodes (MSANs), will carry voice services onto the core network from trial customer lines.