BT turns to Alcatel-Lucent to help meet 21CN objectives

BT will use Alcatel's High Leverage Network architecture

Alcatel-Lucent has announced a five-year deal to provide hardware and services for BT's 21st Century Network (21CN).

Lakh Jemmett, Alcatel-Lucent's UK president, explained that the project will use Alcatel's High Leverage Network (HLN) architecture to help BT accelerate network convergence, increase capacity and deliver content more cost effectively.

"As video and other rich media content puts increasing pressure on networks, our HLN products can help firms like BT meet the challenges that new services are creating by cutting maintenance costs and reducing expenditure," he said.

Jemmett claimed that the agreement will enable BT to meet its 21CN objectives, which include unifying its IP network, reducing costs, opening up its application environment for new business models and speeding up their time to market.

"Tools such as our next-generation 7750 Service Router will enable BT to consolidate Carrier Ethernet virtual private networks and broadband network gateways onto one infrastructure," he said.

Alcatel-Lucent will also provide BT with its Zero Touch Photonics technology that offers a combination of flexibility, automation, fast time-to-service and bandwidth efficiencies to help meet the needs of IP-based applications, the firm said.

The deal includes services such as project management, design, repair and return and software updates to help BT provide business drivers and manage the rapid growth in network traffic.

"This is the first time that a tier-one customer has deployed our HLN architecture, and it is a major proof point of its ability to offer network scalability and revenue generation opportunities, and meet the rising bandwidth demands from networks," said Jemmett.

The value of the deal was not disclosed.