BT Group taps Juniper to create common cloud core network

BT Group has employed Juniper to help its ongoing transformation towards what it calls a highly scalable, automated and cloud core infrastructure for business and consumer customers.

The service provider’s Network Cloud supports diverse network applications across broadband, fixed, mobile and other services on a single platform, using Juniper Networks’ cloud-native solutions and professional services.

By making this deployment, BT Network Cloud has scaled its network to accommodate multiple key network-centric applications, such as mobile voice and data, broadband authentication and IP voice calls for tens of millions of customers without extra overhead costs. Juniper’s global technology footprint, including infrastructure consolidation and virtualization, along with improved hardware density and power efficiency, reduces space and power requirements in support of a more sustainable infrastructure.

Improving, simplifying service quality

A key focus of BT’s migration strategy is to simplify and improve service quality with an agile network cloud.

BT has deployed its cloud-native platform at multiple locations across the U.K. to form a what it says is a distributed architecture designed to scale seamlessly alongside demand and to provide services closer to the end user than with traditional, more centralized deployments.

BT uses Juniper for open, software-defined networking (SDN), switching and firewall solutions for its network cloud. The service provider uses Juniper’s SDN platform to automate the creation and management of its OpenStack-based telco cloud. The platform provides hybrid SDN orchestration and centralized control of virtual switching, routing and security. BT is running cloud-native containerized applications and optimizing costs using OpenStack.

The service provider’s data centers contain over 1,000 Juniper QFX Series Switches and 2,000 Juniper vRouters. Juniper’s switches connect all mission-critical application servers to the core network. The SDN platform is deployed on the servers to provide virtualized routing capability to connect workloads across BT’s network securely. Juniper QFX Series Switches provide the -availability fabric needed to support the growing container-based BT Network Cloud.

By moving from dedicated compute platforms for each application to a shared infrastructure, BT says it can conserve and optimize resources leading to better resource utilization and significantly lower environmental impact. The provider’s network cloud optimizes service quality and streamlines operational deployment and management of core applications, which enables innovation and agility in delivering new services to market such as enhanced 5G services.

“Telecoms services have become central to business and consumer lives and as the U.K.’s national network provider, BT Group has a particular responsibility to lead from the front to deliver the cloud-native, sustainable digital services of the future,” said Howard Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer for BT Group. “Our work with partners such as Juniper is helping to ensure that our critical infrastructure, network and services are agile, secure and resilient for the long term. Our millions of customers can remain confident in the experience-led integrity of the everyday and exceptional digital services on which they rely.”

Common wireless, wireline support

BT sees its move to offer 5G wireless services to transform its core network to ensure it was well-positioned to offer a dynamic range of new services to customers at scale.

It chose to build a network cloud to provide a common shared platform for core applications, which operate its broadband, fixed and mobile services. BT Group has migrated tens of millions of mobile subscribers and successfully deployed all its mobile application infrastructure on its network cloud.

The goal of the multiyear journey at BT Group was to deploy a container-based fixed, broadband, and mobile core that will boost business agility, operational efficiency, sustainability and meet security compliance.

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