August 22, 2005 Auckland, New Zealand -- TelstraClear, New Zealand's second largest full service telecommunications company, has implemented a major upgrade of its North Island backbone network using optical equipment from Nortel. The upgrade converges voice and data services onto a single network infrastructure, enabling revenue-generating broadband services like voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), broadband Ethernet, and storage area networking (SAN).
"This major upgrade to our North Island network means TelstraClear can provide cost-effective, high-speed broadband access and next-generation IP services for more New Zealand business and residential customers between Auckland and Wellington as well as the major provincial centres along the network," reports Phil Rolle, chief network architect, TelstraClear. "It also significantly enhances our competitiveness as a leading carrier, positioning us to use our converged multi-gigabit network to pursue new revenue opportunities."
TelstraClear has deployed Nortel's Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 and Optical Long Haul 1600 to upgrade its North Island backbone. TelstraClear representatives say this network upgrade will enable it to enhance its customers' communications experience by offering flexible, secure, and highly reliable broadband services. By deploying the OME 6500, TelstraClear says it can seamlessly converge its voice and data networks, while enabling new revenue-generating broadband services for business and residential customers.
"Migration to a converged packet-optical infrastructure enables TelstraClear to leverage its existing network investment to establish the new revenue streams and reduce operating expenses that only a packet-optical network is able to deliver," adds Mark Stevens, president, Australia and New Zealand, Nortel.
The OME 6500 is a next-generation optical platform that converges multiple services and network layers onto a single platform and provides what Nortel claims is unprecedented T1/E1 switching and grooming capabilities to deliver lowest total cost of implementation and operation to service providers. In addition to traditional electrical and optical interfaces, delivery is supported for optical Ethernet, optical storage connectivity, and protocol- and bit-rate-transparent services. The OME 6500 has been deployed in more than 35 networks around the world, say company representatives, including BCE, China Mobile, Tiscali, Internet2, Jiangxi Power, and SURFnet.