Nextep upgrades with Juniper Networks gear

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 31 March 2009 02:52

IT Industry - Market

Nextep, NEC Australia's wholly-owned wholesale broadband network operator is to upgrade to an IP/MPLS routing infrastructure with Juniper Networks equipment.

Nextep will deploy Juniper Networks' M and MX Series routers into its core network. According to Juniper, this will enable "the rapid deployment of new advanced voice, video and data offerings while improving the performance and efficiency of [Nextep's] existing high-performance broadband services." Nextep will also use the Juniper Networks SA4500 SSL VPN appliance to provide secure remote access with endpoint security capabilities, to ensure that only devices meeting corporate security policies are granted access."

Nextep provides broadband services to Australia's government and business segments through a network of channel partners that includes various tier-2 carriers, ISPs and system integrators. According to Juniper, the upgrade will increase network capacity, improve performance and lower cost of ownership.

'Upgrading our infrastructure with Juniper platforms will ensure our customers benefit from innovative technology raising QoS, reliability and performance, while enhancing the responsiveness of hosted applications and services,' said Duncan Wallace, general manager, Nextep Broadband. 'The Juniper solution provides unmatched choice and flexibility, ensuring our network can adapt to changing market requirements, while lowering total cost of ownership through the proven, consistent Junos software"

Last November EFTel became the exclusive provider of retail ADSL services on Nextep's  DSLAM network spanning 55 Telstra exchanges. Pacnet's hosted IP telephony offering is also provided by Nextep and Nextep also underpins MyNetFone's SHDSL offering.