Alcatel solution to allow FastWeb to expand transport network

Hanover: Alcatel (www.alcatel.com), a worldwide leader in carrier-class network infrastructure solutions, has announced a multimillion euro contract with FastWeb (www.fastweb.it), one of the world's leading alternative broadband service providers.

The Alcatel solution will allow FastWeb to further expand its transport network — guaranteeing reliability and security — in order to provide innovative broadband services (voice, data and video) to its business and residential clients in Milan, Rome, Genoa, Turin and Naples and Bologna.

FastWeb was the first broadband telecommunications operator in Italy to use IP technologies on DSL and fibre-optic to offer business and residential customers an integrated system for simultaneous use of telephone, Internet and video services.

Other FastWeb services for corporate clients include virtual private networks (VPNs) over IP, and its business-to-employee (B2E) offer, wherein employees have the convenience of working at home and being able to access their company's local area network (LAN) at a speed of 10 megabits per second.

Using the Alcatel optical multi-service nodes (OMSNs) already in the network, FastWeb is able to support traditional services and provide seamless integration of new revenue-generating services, such as Metro Ethernet services. As a result, services such as Layer 2 VPNs and LAN-to-LAN interconnection, for example, can be provided in a more reliable and secure way.

Customer access to the FastWeb network will be optimised by the Alcatel 7300 advanced services access manager (ASAM), the world's most widely deployed broadband access platform. The Alcatel 7670 routing switch platform will be used to develop FastWeb's multi-service IP network and optimise the delivery of these differentiated services to business and residential subscribers. The Alcatel network management platform already in operation will be upgraded to include management of the new equipment.