Alcatel's 7510 Media Gateway was included in BT's recent selection of Alcatel as a preferred supplier in the Metro Node for the 21st Century Network (21CN) transformation. The Alcatel 7510 media gateway solution will enable BT to migrate its installed base of TDM voice lines to VoIP. The Alcatel 7510 Media Gateway builds a service-aware edge for voice and multimedia services in user-centric broadband networks by providing any- to-any media switching and inter-working for circuit and IP ports.
Alcatel's metro node solution also includes the Alcatel 7750 Service Router and the 5620 Service Aware manager as well as the Alcatel 7510 high-density media gateways.
BT has announced it expects to conclude contractual agreements with named preferred suppliers over the summer.
Alcatel said its media gateways have also been deployed in next-generation networks including China Telecom, Slovak Telecom, and Belgacom.
http://www.alcatel.comIn April 2005, BT announced eight preferred vendors for its 21st Century Network, an ambitious undertaking in which it plans to invest up to £10 billion over the next five years to migrate to a fully-converged, packet network.
- Access -- Fujitsu and Huawei have been chosen in the access domain which will link BT's existing access network with the new 21CN.
- Metro -- Alcatel, Cisco and Siemens have been selected as preferred suppliers for metro nodes which provide routing and signalling for 21CN's voice, data and video services.
- Core -- Cisco and Lucent will be 21CN's preferred suppliers for core nodes providing high capacity and cost efficient connections between metro nodes.
- Softswitching -- Ericsson has been selected in the i-node domain – in essence the intelligence that controls the services.
- Optical Transmission -- Ciena and Huawei have been chosen in the transmission domain. BT plans to deploy Ciena's optical switching and transmission and Ethernet transport platforms.
BT said the selection of these eight suppliers will allow dozens of smaller and innovative subcontractors to become involved in the delivery of the 21st Century Network, attracting significant new investment and employment to the UK.
