The amount of data traversing over Telstra fixed network has tripled since 2017 and continues to grow at about 25% per annum. The ability to keep up with soaring demand and cater for large data throughputs in the most cost-effective manner is vital for service providers to remain competitive.

That’s why we are announcing 100 Gbps head-end aggregation for Ethernet Access. We already see greater use of 10 Gbps aggregation and customers have told us they want greater head-end capacity to manage their end users’ growing data needs.

Optimising network management

Increasing the aggregation capacity at the head end will enable customers to create efficiencies in their network management. Instead of adding new equipment or consuming another port in a data centre for every 10 Gbps required and incurring cross-connect fees and management and equipment and optical interfaces cost, they can fit a lot more data into one head end. Customers can use less rack space and require less power per megabit, helping to streamline costs. Organisations can potentially save up to 80% of port costs when comparing one 100 Gbps port to ten 10 Gbps ports to deliver the same capacity. These economies of scale make 100 Gbps ideal for service providers with high data transit demands and those with a larger network presence.

Scale up where and when you need to

Greater aggregation capacity can also help providers scale services faster. If and when service providers reach the limits of aggregation capacities, they have to add new equipment to meet the need. Any equipment provisioning takes time but with support for up to 100 Gbps on Ethernet Access head ends, service providers have more capacity on the port to increase their customer or end-user bandwidth quicker and easier than ever. 

Increasing the aggregation capacity on Ethernet Access also paves the way for higher Virtual Connection (EVC/OVC) bandwidths. Currently the maximum bandwidth on Ethernet Access services is 2 Gbps, but 100 Gbps aggregation creates the possibility of offering up to 10 Gbps Ethernet Virtual Connections / Operator Virtual Connections (EVC/OVC).

Gaining an edge with Ethernet Access

One of the strengths of Ethernet Access is the ability to use the power of our mobile network for rapid service delivery and greater resilience. Rapid Mobile Activation and Mobile Backup are both available to order on tails connecting to the new 100 Gbps head ends. While new fibre connections take time to deliver, our Rapid Mobile Activation provides a fast interim connection in as little as eight days.  When the fibre service is activated, the rapid activation service becomes a backup without extra configuration from you or your customer. If the fibre is ever interrupted, Mobile Backup will kick-in keeping your customers connected and helping you avoid downtime and costly service calls while the fibre is repaired. 

Mobile Backup is not the only way we help ensure resilient data connections. If a customer requests a fully redundant head-end solution, we can design and deploy the solution with the option of geo-redundancy. Services can be ‘dual homed’, meaning when the primary head-end service in one location becomes unavailable, the secondary head-end in a different location takes over to carry the services. For example, a service provider with services usually homed in the Port Melbourne data centre, can also have all tail ends appear in Clayton data centre if there’s an interruption or fault in the equipment in Port Melbourne. This helps avoid the ‘all eggs in one basket’ risk of having all services in one aggregation head-end.

Building enterprise-grade solutions starts with Ethernet Access.

Businesses’ demand for data on our fixed networks shows no sign of slowing down. That’s why we are investing in enhancing Ethernet Access to help service providers continue to meet the needs of their customers.

For more information on Ethernet Access, the new head-end aggregation capacities, or our mobile-enabled features, contact your account manager or visit Telstra Wholesale Ethernet Access.