BT Taps ADVA for 21CN Termination Equipment

ADVA Optical Networking is the latest vendor to be named a supplier for BT’s 21st Century Network, the carrier’s renowned effort to collapse its 16 different U.K. networks and move to a single, next-generation infrastructure.

The value of the deal was not announced.

BT will use the ADVA FSP 150 throughout its network to terminate video, voice and data services with “unparalleled flexibility, control and management,” according to the companies. The ADVA gear will be used to support both access on Openreach, BT’s wholesale offer, as well as for demarcation for BT’s British and global services.

The ADVA FSP 150 portfolio, featuring Etherjack technology, provides end-to-end Ethernet monitoring, which helps carriers like BT verify carrier Ethernet service level agreements (SLAs) and remotely check for faults.

It also has what ADVA refers to as “open protocol transparency.” That means it can interwork with several core technologies such as virtual local area network (VLAN) switching, provider backbone bridging-traffic engineering (PBB-TE) and MPLS. This flexibility was a major criterion for BT in selecting ADVA for the 21CN build, according to the companies.

BT expects to install the ADVA gear in the second half of 2007.

In April of 2005, BT named eight preferred suppliers. It said Fujitsu and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. will link BT's existing access network with the new 21CN. Alcatel, Cisco Systems Inc. and Siemens will supply the metro nodes for routing and signalling the new network’s voice, data and video services. Meanwhile, Cisco and Lucent will provide the core nodes that support high-capacity connections among metro nodes. Ericsson will deliver the i-node domain, which BT describes as the intelligence that controls the services. Finally, Ciena Corp. and Huawei will work 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.

In December of 2005, BT announced it had signed contracts with four vendors – Ciena Corp., Huawei, Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent) and Siemens.

And just last month, BT revealed that Nortel – which has been working for some time with BT on a new Ethernet transport technology called PBT – and Siemens will be providing carrier Ethernet gear for 21CN.

ADVA Optical Networking www.advaoptical.com  

Alcatel-Lucent www.alcatel-lucent.com  

BT www.bt.com  

Ciena Corp. www.ciena.com  

Cisco Systems Inc. www.cisco.com  

Ericsson www.ericsson.com  

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. www.huawei.com  

Nortel Networks www.nortel.com

Openreach http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/home.do  

Siemens http://networks.usa.siemens.com/

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