Neotel / Tata Communications Support Demands for High-Bandwidth Services by Enhancing Carrier Ethernet IP NGN

Cisco IP NGN Upgrades to Support Rollout of Neotel Business Services in South Africa

| Source: Cisco Cisco

SAN JOSE, CA and JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA--(Marketwire - June 21, 2010) -  Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced that Neotel South Africa, majority owned by Tata Communications, has enhanced its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) to offer new business services based on the Cisco® Carrier Ethernet system. This upgrade is driven by increasing customer demand in South Africa for sophisticated video, mobile and cloud services on a single network infrastructure. 

Highlights/Key Facts

  • As Africa's first Cisco TelePresence™ provider, the company has seen rapid adoption of its public Cisco TelePresence facilities in Johannesburg. Neotel's linkage with Tata Communications enables it to interconnect to the large number of existing Tata Communications public Cisco TelePresence rooms.
  • Neotel has more than 4,000 kilometers (about 2,500 miles) of fiber in the metro Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban regions, enabling the company to grow its premier business services in these key centers.
  • The implementation of a Cisco Carrier Ethernet system with service-performance parameters has reduced system validation and deployment times for new revenue-generating services.
  • The annual Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast, 2009-2014, projects that consumer broadband usage and global IP NGN traffic will continue to climb significantly due to the new forms and expanded usage of interactive media and the explosion of video content across multiple devices. IP traffic in the Middle East and Africa will reach 1 exabyte per month by 2014 at a rate of 45 percent. Monthly Internet traffic in the Middle East and Africa will generate 182 million DVDs worth of traffic, or 727 petabytes per month. Business IP traffic will also grow fastest in the Middle East and Africa.
  • Cisco recently announced the availability of several new products that are part of its Carrier Ethernet System. 
    • The Cisco ME3600X and Cisco ME3800X Carrier Ethernet platforms cost-effectively provide pay-as-you-grow 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and rich quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities for access and small aggregation requirements.
    • The Cisco ONS 15454 M2 and M6 chassis are compact versions of the Cisco ONS 15454 DWDM system, providing a 40-gigabit optical transport infrastructure in a smaller form factor.

Supporting Quotes
Angus Hay, chief technical officer, Neotel (South Africa)
"As the first converged communications network operator in South Africa, the largest Metro Ethernet provider in southern Africa and part of the global Tata Communications network, we are well positioned to deliver advanced video, cloud and mobile services to residential, business and wholesale customers. These new Carrier Ethernet enhancements support Neotel's objective to become one of Africa's leading service providers."

Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider Routing technology group, Cisco
"Cisco has sought to simplify our customers' IP NGN infrastructures. By delivering on the promise of the service-enabled IP NGN Carrier Ethernet system, we make it easier for service provider customers to reduce operational expenses and add new sources of revenue."

David Meads, general manager, Cisco South Africa
"Customer demand for international capacity has increased significantly throughout South Africa and the African region with the arrival of the submarine cables. As high bandwidth becomes available at increasingly attractive prices, we will continue to work with Neotel to deliver world-class technology solutions to enhance the customer experience."

Supporting Resources:

Tags/Keywords:
Cisco, Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network, IP NGN, Neotel, Tata Communications, Angus Hay, Kelly Ahuja

About Neotel
Neotel is South Africa's first converged communications network operator. It provides a range of value-added voice and data services for businesses, wholesale network operators and providers and consumers using its pure-IP Next Generation Network, powered by Neotel's high-performance fiber optic backbone. Neotel connects the major centres in South Africa to each other and to the world, directly linking the country into Tata Communications' global Tier 1 network. Neotel offers fresh thinking, a creative approach and flexible solutions for communications in South Africa. Information about Neotel can be found at http://www.neotel.co.za/.

About Cisco Systems
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in emerging markets is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems and Cisco TelePresence are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

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