German broadband operator HanseNet, which was acquired by Spain’s Telefonica O2 Germany in February 2010, has chosen Acme Packet for the expansion of its intelligent network. The vendor has deployed its Net-Net 4500 Session Director session border controllers (SBCs) for use in HanseNet’s ‘Alice’-branded DSL consumer voice-over-IP (VoIP) service. HanseNet chose the solution to offload key functions from its softswitches and to block certain types of traffic from reaching its core network, enabling it to avoid expensive softswitch capacity upgrades and implement more effective distribution and controls over the signalling traffic that is processed by its core switches. ‘Acme Packet’s session border controllers helped us save money by enabling more efficient use of our core network capacity,’ said Sebastian Seggert, network development project manager for HanseNet, adding: ‘The Net-Net 4500 is helping us manage the growth of voice traffic over our network so that our expansion into new points of presence (PoPs) throughout the country can be conducted more efficiently.’
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database states that HanseNet’s then parent Telecom Italia (TI) signed an agreement to sell its German unit to Telefonica O2 Germany in November 2009 for EUR900 million (USD1.34 billion) in an all cash transaction. The European Commission gave its go-ahead to the acquisition in January 2010, and the deal was fully completed the following month. Although Telefonica offers HanseNet services under the ‘Alice’ banner in O2 stores, HanseNet has continued to operate as a separate company with headquarters in Hamburg.