We provide better control of networks

Nathan Bell,
Marketing, Products and Pricing Director,
Telstra Global

Telstra recently announced that it now has the ability to provide end-to end network solutions to Indian customers, bolstering its network coverage and investment in India. The new network would enable Telstra to offer what it believed was one of the most reliable services in the country, as well as providing businesses in India with broader access to Telstra’s suite of advanced telecommunications solutions.

In an interaction with VARINDIA, Nathan Bell, Marketing, Products and Pricing Director, Telstra Global, shares his views on advanced telecom solutions.

You have recently started your operations directly in India? How do you view the telecom market in the country?

Following the Department of Telecommunications– Government of India’s approval of Telstra’s international gateways installed at Mumbai and Chennai, Telstra will now offer International Private Line (IPL), Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) services from India. With customers increasingly seeking to manage business-critical aspects of their business from India, the network has never been more important. Telstra’s network is built on state-of-the-art platforms offering high resilience, meaning we are able to offer one of the most reliable services in the country. The launch of our transmission services in India will ensure our current and potential customers have better control of the network, access to more cost–effective services and have less lead time.

The network services will feature mesh network architecture, with Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and virtual PoPs in Pune and Kolkata. Both Mumbai and Chennai will act as dual international gateways out of India. This investment into India is part of Telstra’s commitment to offering our customers more diverse international network connectivity to meet their evolving business requirements. Telstra was granted ILD (International Long Distance), NLD (National Long Distance) and ISP (Internet Service Provider) licenses in October 2011 and successfully launched Global IPVPN Services in India in March 2012.

The two key new product lines available to customers in India are IPL and EPL services. The IPL service provides dedicated point-to-point links between two key business locations, ensuring security and reliability of voice, video and data communications. Telstra Global’s IPL offering enables customers to control and manage their own networking routing, protocols and security. There is a wide range of bandwidth options available for this service. Whereas, This Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certified global EPL service enables customers to expand their networks in small and cost-effective increments. Delivered over Telstra’s cable infrastructure using SDH technology, the global EPL service operates at the OSI model layer 2, enabling customers to retain control of their own networking routing and to manage their own security.

Can you throw some more light on your other product offerings?

A dedicated and secure service Telstra Global’s Ethernet Private Line (EPL) service is ideal for companies that require either dedicated bandwidth or greater data privacy, or indeed both. The service operates at the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model layer 2 and, as a result, it gives companies the ability to control their network routing and manage their own security. EPL is delivered over Telstra Global’s extensive cable assets using Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) technology and can be set up in point-to-point or point-to-multipoint configurations, with a variety of protection/ restoration options. Also intelligent network MEF-compliant Network Interface Devices (NIDs) are installed on your sites as standard enabling end-to-end support, diagnostics and performance reporting.

With EPL, customers have confidence that the bandwidth they need is reserved specifically for their own use. Over time, as their needs change, it is easy for them to expand their capacity, in small and affordable increments, and build their total capacity to as much as 10 Gbps. The scalability offered by this service enables growing organisations to expand their network gradually and only pay for the capacity they need. What is more, bandwidth increases can be achieved through simple ‘soft upgrades’ with minimal service disruption.

How cost-effective and reliable are Telstra solutions?

EPL provides support for jumbo frames, which enable better transport and bandwidth efficiency. The service is very flexible and can be set up in both point-to-point and point to- multipoint configurations. VLAN and protocol transparency means customers can customise and send traffic according to their own business rules.

Customers can also select from a number of different protection/restoration options, to gain a high level of service resilience, backed by service level agreements. 

Due to the ubiquitous nature of Ethernet, organisations can typicallybuy inexpensive Ethernet equipmentfor their Wide Area Network (WAN)or re-use their existing Ethernetequipment. In addition, Ethernetlocal access is often more cost effectivethan many other WAN technologies,contributing to a lower totalcost of ownership.

How is Telstra making connectivitysimple to accessacross networks?

Secure links between offices TelstraGlobal IPL’s are ideal for companiesthat require dedicated bandwidth andgreater data security. Telstra GlobalIPL’s provide organisations with theability to control and manage theirown network routing, protocols and security. Delivered using SynchronousDigital Hierarchy (SDH)infrastructure, IPL’s can be configured to ensure fault tolerance andservice restoration, designed toprovide service availability in abnormalsituations. 

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