Telstra’s wireline transformation

Telstra has transformed its core infrastructure onto a single internet protocol (IP) backbone to carry voice, video and data traffic, improve network efficiency and reduce costs.

The Telstra Next IP network is a key component of Telstra’s vision to be a fully integrated media communications company. This vision is to be a key supplier of content, transport and distribution. In order to make this vision a reality, Telstra needs networks that integrate seamlessly across all devices and are scalable, secure and robust.

Tellabs was one of four key technology partners for this project, supplying professional services and the Tellabs 8800 Multiservice Router (MSR) Series for deployment in regional and metropolitan networks throughout Australia.

When Telstra commenced this project, the company had multiple overlay networks, including an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) frame relay network, an IP network and an ethernet network. The network transformation project was designed to provide next-generation services over an integrated and simplified next-generation network.

Less than 18 months later, Telstra unveiled the largest fully integrated wireline and wireless national IP network in the world. Telstra had invested AU$1.5 billion to establish this network, which serves over 95% of Australian businesses. Combined with Telstra’s Next G wireless network, the Telstra Next IP network offers a seamless user experience with one-command simplicity.

The Telstra Next IP network provides world-class reliability, enhanced security and its IP/MPLS core is scalable up to 92 Tbps per node and offers 99.999% reliability.

Telstra selected Tellabs as one of several vendors to support its network transformation plans. Telstra wanted to move to an IP/MPLS environment.

“The way to move to this environment with confidence was to move into a carrier IP/MPLS core and define services at the service level on an IP/MPLS edge platform,” said Luigi Sorbello, Director of Network Technology for Telstra.

“In building the IP/MPLS environment, one of the elements we were looking at was the capability not only to do ethernet aggregation but also to deliver ATM, frame relay and E1 capability over what we call the Multiservice Edge, or MSE,” Sorbello noted.

“The difficulty was finding a next-generation platform that would deliver all of those services over one box and one chassis. That capability didn’t exist with anyone, but Tellabs stepped up to deliver the platform that would meet our requirements.”

Product capabilities had to be considered in great detail, Sorbello noted. “When you’re talking about existing products and an embedded base of key corporate and defence customers that had used ATM and frame relay for 10 years-plus, you need to be sure that you’re delivering features as specified and that they operate in the same kind of way.”

Telstra liked the fact that Tellabs could support virtual private LAN service (VPLS) and pseudo wire emulation edge-to-edge (PWE3) services, added Tibor Latorcai, ATM Network Architect for Telstra.

“Tellabs was the only vendor that supported the ATM routing protocol private network-to-network interface (PNNI) over MPLS and one of only a few vendor solutions that offered hitless software upgrades.

Telstra chose Tellabs because of the company’s willingness to accelerate a portion of its development program to match Telstra’s needs, noted Sorbello. Telstra wanted to purchase a standard product; it did not want custom code. One of the guiding principles of Telstra’s network transformation is simplification of networks, not customising existing solutions and adding layers of complexity. The network operator’s demands were in line with the Tellabs product roadmap — the key was to closely coordinate the timing of new software releases to correspond with the various phases of Telstra’s deployment plans.

“Tellabs stepped up to deliver the platform that would meet our requirements,” said Sorbello.

A phased approach

Transformation of Telstra’s multiservice edge was planned in three phases. The first phase, undertaken introduced the Tellabs 8800 MSR series into the core of the existing ATM network, which served to alleviate capacity constraints and cap investment in legacy infrastructure. Initially, customers’ ATM and frame relay traffic fed onto the ATM backbone, but today that traffic has moved onto the IP/MPLS.

Thorough testing prior to implementation ensured that the transition to the IP/MPLS core was successful. “We replaced 16 core ATM switches with 12 Tellabs 8800 MSR series nodes and they have been performing flawlessly since 30 November 2007,” Sorbello said.

Throughout the project, Tellabs personnel have worked closely with Telstra personnel to ensure that the development cycles of new software loads for the Tellabs 8800 MSR series nodes corresponded with Telstra’s deployment schedule.

Installation of the new multiservice edge across Telstra’s national wireline network has been a large and complex project. As with any project of this size and scale, it has not occurred without some challenges.

Tellabs put extra resources into the project to maintain Telstra’s time frames, Sorbello said.

“The fact that we had both organisations step up to do whatever it took to deliver against Telstra’s original expectations and that we had full executive support was one of the contributing success factors that we should not ignore,” added Sorbello.