October 2006
We believe 21CN will have as significant an impact on the way people communicate as the arrival of motorways had on road travel in the late 20th century, and will make communications easier, faster and better for voice, data or video services. Everyone should have access to advanced communications, which is why our 21st Century Network programme is designed to bring the future to everyone in the UK, whether they choose to live or work in our towns and cities, or in more rural parts of the country.
This creates a fantastic opportunity to enhance the social and economic status of every region of the UK. It will also help each regional authority to attract and retain inward investment to their region and that, in turn, will help create further new possibilities for people.
Paul Reynolds
Chief Executive
BT Wholesale
Work is well underway on installing 21CN metro node equipment at the main Cardiff telephone exchange. There are similar scenes at Swansea and Newport in South Wales with these metro nodes being essential to support the first customers that will be switched on to 21CN in less than 100 days.
As preparations for Pathfinder continue there is another piece of work taking place in parallel that addresses the requirement to actually inform customers about the migration. Communication Providers (CPs) have agreed to undertake a unique, independent communications programme to promote the process of migration to the new 21st Century Network.
BT's transformation of its network to deliver the next generation of communications services took a major step forward today with more than 40 million customer calls successfully carried over the IP based trial network.
Learn more about the key issues and topics that are forming the basis for discussion between BT and industry with Consult21 this month.
An extensive career in the UK and abroad in network start-ups and network transformation has equipped Jim Feenan with precisely the right mix of engineering and programme management expertise for the challenge of ‘test-bedding’ every element of the 21st Century Network.
21CN is coming to everyone in the UK – that’s the key message that will be delivered over the next few days as BT reveals its 21CN UK rollout plans.
BT announced details of the first steps it will take to transition customers in the UK to its 21st Century Network (21CN). This is a new secure and intelligent communications infrastructure that will deliver existing and future services designed to make people’s lives more productive and businesses more efficient.
When the Consult21 Working Groups first hit the track running in 2005, there was a field of nine. Today there are eight but for the one missing Group – Network Hooks & Common Capabilities – it’s a case much more of ‘baton successfully passed on’, rather than ‘race done’ – as the former Group’s Industry Consultant Tim Short explained.
Carol Borghesi, Managing Director of BT's 21CN Customer Experience programme – which is a key workstream within the overall 21CN programme – has decided to leave BT to take up a new opportunity as Director of Customer Service with Bharti Telecom, India’s largest mobile operator.
If you would like to know more about the work of Consult21 please see our website at www.btwholesale.com/consult21
Or if you would like to receive regular information and become more involved in the Consult21 Working Groups please contact helen.nurse@bt.com
For more information on BT’s 21st Century Network please see http://www.bt.com/21cn
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