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Your Location: Home / Australia & New Zealand News / News Release
December 4, 2002
Nortel Networks deploys VoIP and Gigabit Ethernet network for University of Ballarat
Network supports high-speed, high-quality voice, video and data on single platform
SYDNEY, Australia - A six-campus converged voice, video and data network at the University of Ballarat is powered by a Voice over IP (VoIP) and Gigabit Ethernet solution from Nortel Networks.
One of Australia's newest and most progressive universities, the University of Ballarat is the pivotal provider of post-secondary education for Central and Western Victoria. Offering a broad range of both degree and vocational education programs to over 19, 000 students, the university is committed to leveraging advanced communications and networking technology to underpin its academic, research and administrative programs.
The Nortel Networks convergence solution was first implemented on the new Camp Street precinct, and progressively rolled to the university's other five campuses. The solution included IP-enabling an existing Nortel Networks Meridian* PBX and connecting it to a Survivable IP Extension (SIPE) cabinet at the Camp Street site, where Nortel Networks IP Telephony Gateways (ITGs) and i2004 Internet Telephones have been installed. Nortel Networks Passport* 8600 Gigabit Ethernet routing switches have also been deployed to allow the university to provide Gigabit Ethernet across campus locations and switched Ethernet services to the network edge, as well as deliver the functionality to support high-speed, high-quality voice, video and data on a single platform.
"The Nortel Networks VoIP solution protects our existing investment in Meridian PBXs - delivering the same voice quality and features of traditional digital telephony at greatly reduced costs when compared to completely replacing the PBXs with VoIP," said Jeff Dowsley, director, Information Technology Services, University of Ballarat. "And for data and video transmission, the new routing switches will complement our current ATM wide area network - also built by Nortel Networks - to deliver reliable, seamless Gigabit Ethernet connections from the core network to workgroup switches, with 100 Mbps to desktops.
"The new Passport switches have Quality of Service policies that ensure delivery of voice and video packets regardless of the data traffic load, and this is of critical importance," added Dowsley.
"The University of Ballarat consistently targets Nortel Networks solutions that enable it to create a blueprint for its future needs and then implements those solutions in a carefully phased approach," said Barry Southern, president, Nortel Networks Enterprise Solutions, Asia Pacific.
"Its evolutionary, cost-effective approach to VoIP, and the Passport 8600's bandwidth scalability, show that the university's long-term communications and networking vision is not only realisable from a technology perspective but is actually highly achievable in the established timeframe and within strict budget allocations."
In addition to IP-enabling its Nortel Networks Meridian PBXs and deploying Passport 8600 routing switches, the University of Ballarat uses a Nortel Networks Business Policy Switch to prioritise LAN traffic across its campus network and is also trialling the Nortel Networks Optivity* Telephony Manager to reduce the complexity of voice network management and achieve improved system performance.
The Nortel Networks Passport 8600 is the industry's first carrier-grade routing switch. Delivering a complete solution for Gigabit Ethernet connectivity over fibre or copper media, the Passport 8600 provides ease of use, superior performance, and the availability and scalability required to support multimedia traffic over a converged backbone. Designed for use in campus and in building backbone networks, or in service provider metro applications, Passport 8600 provides 99.999 percent uptime, critical in today's emerging Internet and network-centric education and business environments.
Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the world communicates and exchanges information. The Company is supplying its service provider and enterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline Networks, Enterprise Networks, and Optical Networks. As a global Company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on the Web at www.nortelnetworks.com.
*Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo, the Globemark, Business Without Boundaries, Meridian, Passport and Optivity are trademarks of Nortel Networks.
