Etisalat and Alcatel-Lucent strike network improvement deal

UAE incumbent Etisalat has inked a deal of undisclosed value with French-US vendor Alcatel-Lucent for further improvements to the telco’s IP/MPLS next generation network (NGN). The work will involve the installation of Alcatel-Lucent 7450 Ethernet Service Switches and 5620 ‘Service Aware Manager’ software in addition to existing 7750 Service Routers already deployed on Etisalat’s network by the vendor for an earlier contract. The upgrades will allow the operator to offer triple-play services more efficiently and to improve its corporate IP-VPN services.