Paper title

"The Critical Standards for BT's 21st Century Network"

Authors: Dr Keith R Dickerson
Affiliation: Head of Standards for BT Group, CTO Office, British Telecom, UK

Abstract - BT’s commercial future depends on providing attractive new services to customers, while reducing the costs of providing and operating the infrastructure.  Broadband and mobility capabilities are key enablers for offering these services, as well as networked IT services for corporate customers.  Interconnect services will also have to be attractive to other operators.  Standards are essential to all of these, to drive down the cost of integration and interoperability, to increase supplier choice, and to allow BT to interconnect with other operators and service providers to gain global reach. 

• The Architecture of BT’s 21st Century Network is based on the following key principles:

• An IP-based core network for all services, using an enhanced form of MPLS to provide ‘connections’ and therefore an acceptable QoS for real-time services.  The complexity of MPLS must be reduced by the removal of legacy features inconsistent with its use in a carrier’s multi-service core. 

• SIP as the protocol of choice for establishment of call based sessions (e.g. VoIP, multimedia, etc.) and including presence management. 

• A Mobility architecture based on 3GPP with extensions for Wi-Fi, broadband access, etc.  This will mean that there will be little distinction between fixed and mobile networks within 5-10 years.

• An access network converging on a DSL-based Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN). 

• The use of deep fibre, including fibre to the node and fibre to the premises, to extend broadband reach and bandwidth capability. 

• Open APIs that will allow 3rd party applications providers to provide services over our 21C network. 

• A common intelligence layer controlling all services including voice, IPTV and data services.  

• A standards-based home gateway providing seamless access from wide area networks to home networking services. 

• OSS based on a common set of components for all services (not stovepipes); and using directories, middleware and B2B Gateway technologies to provide communication between these.