Milan-based FastWeb, Italy’s third largest broadband provider in terms of subscribers, has selected Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Juniper Networks to strengthen its IP backbone. The move is expected to help the operator meet growing traffic and service quality demands. NSN has confirmed that it has deployed Juniper Networks’ high-capacity T1600 flagship core routers, which were added to a Multiservice IP backbone, and integrated with the existing core and access networks.
Guido Roda, FastWeb’s head of Network Engineering, commented: ‘The exponential increase of internet traffic largely driven by popular social networks and video services put pressure on our existing core network. In order to continue offering a superior internet access experience to our customers and maintain market leadership, we needed to build new capacity. This was done by creating a new ‘Supercore’ layer within the existing IP infrastructure’. Ben Jacobson, head of NSN alliance sales at Juniper Networks, added: ‘Our routers are a novel way of building additional capacity without ripping out existing infrastructure. Without them, the overload of internet traffic on the core network would result in severe bottlenecks and affect the quality of service’.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, at end-March 2011 FastWeb reported a broadband subscriber base of 1.73 million customers, equivalent to a market share of 13.3%. FastWeb currently operates in more than 150 Italian cities, and has a network that spans 32,000km.