Telecommunications giant British Telecom (BT) today took a major step towards delivering its new 21st Century Network with the selection of its preferred suppliers. The 21st Century Network is the world's most radical next generation network transformation programme. It will require an investment by BT of up to $19 billion (œ10bn) over the next five years and will put the UK at the cutting edge of innovation.
The 21st Century Network (21CN) is a global IP infrastructure, based upon Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), that carries voice, data and Internet services on a single network. The 21CN offers multiple services across a single network, rather than today's multitude of networks offering specific services. For BT, this will mean fewer network elements overall and require simpler network management. For BT's customers, the 21CN will deliver more choice, control and accessibility, as well as increased flexibility, reliability and security.
The announcement today of product and service suppliers is the culmination of two years of discussions and negotiations with over 300 potential technology suppliers from all corners of the world. BT described it as an extremely competitive process in what is one of the largest single procurement programmes ever undertaken in the communications industry.
A final list of eight preferred vendors has been chosen to work with BT in five strategic domains. They are:
• Fujitsu and Huawei have been chosen in the access domain which will link BT's existing access network with the new 21CN
• Alcatel, Cisco and Siemens have been selected as preferred suppliers for metro nodes which provide routing and signaling for 21CN's voice, data and video services
• Cisco and Lucent will be 21CN's preferred suppliers for core nodes providing high capacity and cost efficient connections between metro nodes
• Ericsson has been selected in the i-node domain, in essence the intelligence that controls the services
• Ciena and Huawei have been chosen in the transmission domain to supply the optical electronics that will convert the signals carried at high capacity over the cables connecting the metro and core nodes
Matt Bross, BT Group's chief technology officer said,
"The capability that BT is putting in place through this investment in 21CN is unequalled anywhere in the world. It will enable us to introduce new services at a speed that is simply impossible today."
Paul Reynolds, BT Wholesale chief executive added,
"21CN is a key infrastructure that will fuel the UK economy and provide a flexible way for consumers to use new services. The selection of the preferred suppliers is an incredibly important building block towards that vision. 21CN will also radically reduce BT's cost base, with identified savings of around one billion pounds a year."