Cabinets rack up advantages for network upgrade

When Telewest came to upgrade its network of broadband routers, load capacity, rigidity, build quality and configurability were the key requirements when selecting the cabinets for the project.

Telewest, the UK broadband communications and media group, is one of the country's leading providers of multichannel television, telephone and Internet services to consumers and businesses.

To retain and grow its market position, Telewest has a continuous investment programme in place to upgrade and extend its GBP 4 billion broadband network.

One of the latest upgrades, the Edge Project, involves the installation of new-generation Cisco 7609 routers, each providing 30Mpacket/s forwarding rates with up to 256Gbit/s of total throughput, in 13 regional head end (RHE) sites and 60 local hubs located all over the country.

The upgrade will provide dual 10Gbit/s Ethernet links between each RHE and the hub sites to meet the bandwidth requirements of Telewest's fast-growing Teleport service.

The installation of the project, conceived and managed by Telewest, was implemented by its long-term installation partner, specialist contractor Network Installation Solutions, NIS.

The 7609 router is a 21U high 19in rack-mounted chassis, delivering nine interface slots of optical LAN, WAN and MAN networking.

Offering reliable high-availability delivery of configurable route processing and switch fabrics, the 7609 features integral redundant tiered speed fan trays, PSU redundancy and unrestricted management of fibre/coaxial or dense 10/100 cable configurations.

To ensure successful and timely project implementation, NIS specified APW Enclosure Solutions' Imrak cabinet conforming to Telewest's requirements and standards.

Purchased through specialist networking distributor Wadsworth, the cabinets were factory-configured by APW Enclosure Solutions and shipped to Wadsworth who held stock ready for JIT despatch to the required sites throughout the UK.

Each 47U Imrak cabinet is fitted with a top mounted fan tray and houses power distribution units, copper and fibre patch panels, optical amplifiers and digital subscriber units in addition to the router.

Load capacity, rigidity, build quality and configurability were the key requirements when selecting the cabinets for the project: the Imrak, the long-established European market leader in the networking sector, was NIS's undisputed choice.

Back to top