BT makes progress on 21CN

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 29 July 2006 03:26

Business IT - Networking

BT's ambitious plan to upgrade its entire network to all IP operation, dubbed 21CN,  has passed a major milestone with the announcement that the IP based trial network has successfully carried more than 23 million customer calls.
In a statement, BT said:' "Equipment upgrades are bringing the trial network closer to the ultimate 21CN design that will be rolled out across the UK. Multi service access nodes or MSANs from Huawei and Fujitsu are already in use, carrying voice services onto the core network from trial customer lines." This equipment is being installed at 18 exchanges in South East London, Kent and East Anglia.

For this stage of the trial, BT has also newly introduced Cisco's media gateway, Ericsson's call server and a Cisco Catalyst Switch. Other key technology components are Alcatel's LAN switch and Siemens/Juniper routers used in a previous 21CN voice trial.

Deb Covey, managing director, BT Wholesale Networks said: "21CN is gathering momentum as we head towards the start of customer lines being switched to the new network in South Wales in November. We are working with the rest of the industry to finalise the UK rollout plan. It's full steam ahead as we prepare sites across the country for equipment to be installed this summer."