NOTIZIE ITALTEL

VOIP IS ON THE FAST TRACK IN ITALY

The connection between Milan and Rome has been active for some months and by the end of 2003, 20 other Italian cities will be connected to the new Telecom Italia’s national backbone, on which all voice/data traffic will merge. By 2004, all of the operator’s national traffic will travel on the IP network.

With the activation of the medium-distance transport backbone between Rome and Milan, which officially took place at the beginning of last October, Telecom Italia confirms the strategic importance of innovative network infrastructures based on the IP (Internet Protocol) standard.

It is one of the most sophisticated applications of Softswitch technology, that demonstrates the reliability and safety even in the service features requested by a public operator. The new national backbone began from the evolution of Telecom Italia’s fibre optic backbone used for data transport in IP.

Thanks to the iMSS solutions developed by Italtel and to Cisco Systems’ technology, it will transport the long-distance voice/data traffic coming from the PSTN (Public Telephone Switched Network) network or from H.323 urban networks (the standard for sending voice, data and video using local “packet switched” networks) connected to each node of the new network.

“Italtel and Cisco – emphasises Patrizia Grieco, managing director in charge of operations (COO) of Italtel – have been heavily investing in VoIP technology since 2000. It’s a collaboration that, today, with the realization of the national backbone, allowed us to implement a ‘carrier class’ solution, which is the frontier of this technology and which is able to provide cutting edge network services.”

Stefano Nocentini, head of Telecom Italia’s Network Engineering department, traced the development project of the new infrastructure and maintained contacts with the work groups that Italtel and Cisco, the technological partners chosen by the Italian telephone operator, dedicated to this project. Notizie Italtel magazine spoke to him to expand upon the strategic value and its significance in the medium run.

Why has Telecom Italia decided to make such a radical modernization of its network infrastructure?

"The evolution of the network infrastructure is a subject that interests all incumbent operators. Since 1995, Telecom Italia has chosen a two-way convergent approach: on one hand, the realization of international and Class 4 transit networks, at medium and long distance; on the other, in recent years, the development of infrastructures 'on the cutting edge of the network' that initially offer VoIP technology to major business customers that have HDSL connections, to then progressively expand this possibility to an ever growing number of clients.

The target, which comes from the alignment of these two guiding lines for modernization, is the Class 5 Replacement, in other words, the complete substitution of the SGU infrastructure expected in 2003. In fact this strategic orientation was confirmed by the fulfilment of a medium-term industrial investment plan that did not undergo substantial variations despite the corporate changes that took place in Telecom Italia and the new market scenarios that have emerged from ’96 onwards."

Can we summarize the fundamental steps of this plan?

"The overall architectural layout came about in ’96-’97; in 1999 we started up the project for the Pan European backbone (PEB) and in 2001 the national backbone; in parallel the substitution of SGT equipment began and the introduction of a series of H.323 services for business customers for the supply of VoIP solutions. Based on our “road map”, the next phase, which will be heavily developed during del 2003-2004, will expand the VoIP infrastructure from main business customers to residential users, and finally, we estimate that towards the end of 2005, we will provide all customers with services entirely based on VoIP technology."

What are the main characteristics of BBN?

"BBN, which has been active in the Milan – Rome trunk since August, is made up of 24 PoPs (Point of Presence) which will administer the entire country. Two PoPs are in Rome and two more are in Milan; 10 more PoPs were activated in 2002. The complete interconnection of the network is foreseen for the first half of 2003. In parallel, the shifting of national traffic to the new network will continue and we predict the definitive switching off of the current automatic transit switch and interconnection infrastructures by the end of 2004."

Why has Telecom Italia started up such a radical modernization project? What are the expected objectives and benefits?

"There are substantially two types of strategic objectives. The first is an economic one. It is absolutely necessary that a leading provider such as Telecom Italia implements technological solutions that are able to allow substantial reductions in the cost of traffic transport and network management, maintaining or improving the quality of service. It’s an indispensable condition in order to adequately respond to the pressures of the competition.

The second goal, which is just as important, is linked to Telecom Italia’s desire to remain a technological leader in the Tlc sector, and not only in Italy. Softswitch and voice over IP solutions are undoubtedly winning technologies, destined to be a success. They are the basis for the offer of new total value-added services which will constitute the predominant margin share of any TLC operator.

In this modernization process, the time factor is a critical element: the time which is necessary to build the new technological infrastructure and the time that is required to get to know and manage this technology in the best possible way.

So, it is fundamental to be able to count on resources and reliable partners that master it completely and that are thus able to start up ideal planning, service delivery, infrastructure management and maintenance processes before the competition does. In this scenario, using VoIP technology a year or two ahead of the others is a key advantage in terms of experience and know how, an advantage that lasts over time and lets you foresee future developments."

How much did the development of the national backbone weigh on the success of the project?

"It was decisive. The 'cultural' leap that was required for the shift from a circuit switched network to a VoIP network is extremely complex. It must be handled by experts who know both technologies in-depth, but who, most of all, have a clear idea of the final quality level a provider such as Telecom Italia expects. An operation of this magnitude must be faced only with a stable and reliable technological partner, who is able to manage the new technology and guarantee the transition from the old to the new status with complete confidence.

Once these prerequisites were established, Italtel and Cisco were immediately singled out as ideal candidates. In fact, Italtel not only boasts the best references and experience in VoIP applications, but it knows the current TDM network inside out, while Cisco’s media gateway solutions are the state of the art of this technology."

Can you evaluate the initial progress off the top of your head?

"The work team made up of Telecom, Italtel and Cisco was able to develop this project working on a very tight schedule and warding off the most feared risk, the so-called 'transition drama': the realization of the new infrastructure must go ahead without interfering with the operation of the current network, without producing unexpected extra costs, until the moment of the final changeover.

For the Milan-Rome trunk this was done in two weeks and without any signs of malfunctioning. Italtel and Cisco’s ability to foresee and overcome with great flexibility all potential problems due to the dual presence of the present network and the one being realized, was decisive in order to respect the deadlines and the budget of the project."

What are the improvements brought about by the new network?

"There are planning benefits and operational aspects. Compared to the current SGT network, which has a complete grid configuration, with thousands of internal connections, BBN has a much simpler architecture to manage. As well, the distinction between data transport and voice transport has been overcome: BBN uses a single infrastructure (the Optical Packet Backbone), with an extremely high bandwidth, where data and voice transit at the same time, with a centralized control.

So, for the provider, the management of voice traffic becomes a marginal cost, as the band dedicated to the telephony is integrated to the band for data transport. With a single base technology, which simplifies and makes the management, control and maintenance of the entire infrastructure more efficient."

Is it already possible to quantify the benefits that BBN will bring to operating costs?

"The projections and estimates are based on the experiences carried out with the European backbone. We predict that at the conclusion of the entire project, that is, after 2004, the total operating costs will be reduced by 66 percent compared to present costs. It’s a figure that, by itself, makes the business plan a positive one. It’s much more difficult to quantify the competitive advantage of our early start up of the project compared to our main competitors. 

It is certain, however, that all future development projects and new services that Telecom Italia is activating would never happen within a reasonably short time without the support of infrastructures like BBN and the European backbone."

Italtel, at the centre of innovation

In all the great technological advances of the Italian Tlc network, Italtel has played a leading role. It happened during the changeover from the electromechanical system to the time division multiplexing (TDM) network. It’s happening today with the evolution towards a multiservice architecture based on VoIP solutions.

If on one hand it’s confirmation of Italtel’s strong propensity towards technological innovation, on the other it demonstrates its attention to the dynamics of the competitive scenario and its ability to implement technological solutions which respond to the client’s needs.

“The key to the success of this project – explains Claudio Chiarenza, head of Italtel’s Products Business Unit – is the know-how that Italtel, Cisco and Telecom Italia knew how to convey, with a strong spirit of partnership that involved the entire network of suppliers. The work group was able to understand the needs of the customers and to adapt, even during the deployment phase, the configuration of the infrastructure."
 
The technology provided by Italtel, based on the iMSS, has made the evolution of Telecom Italia’s Optical Packet Backbone (OPB, realized by Italtel since 1995) possible in order to develop the national backbone.
“In this way – emphasises Riccardo Caldarella, head of Italtel’s Network Integration Business Unit – voice/date transport takes place in IP, on the same infrastructure. The iMSS equipment, in fact, manages, in a bi-directional way, both the interconnection to the local TDM network, packeting and compressing voice traffic, and the connection to the urban H.323 networks for voice/data traffic directly in IP. It is therefore a multi-service network, that can be easily scaled down and ready for future evolution, through which it is easier to create and manage both ’wholesale’ services to offer to other operators and new value-added voice, data and video services for business and residential users."

iMSS -Italtel Multi-Service Solutions

The iMSS-4040 is a versatile hybrid Media Gateway Controller (MGC), including a Signaling Gateway, for large-scale voice and data integration over packet-based backbones, which behaves as a “softswitch” in the multi-service network. With this “hybrid” system, the operator can use two different functions: Call Agent and TDM switch.

The Call Agent function controls the Media Gateways using the MGCP/MeGaCo protocols and can dialogue with Gatekeepers controlling H.323 networks. The embedded Signaling Gateway translates the dialogue among the SS7 signaling points and the Call Agent function.

The iMSS-4040 is a fully scalable system, in which call-processing power can range from a few thousands to some hundreds of thousand of calls per second, depending on the configurations. This assures smooth evolution and incremental operator investments, because the initial investment can be used as a basis for network evolution, in terms of capacity, functionality and processing power. The network can be expanded, increasing the number of POPs, the capacity of the POPs and of the backbone and/or evolving towards configurations including Class 5 functions.