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Nortel (News - Alert) technology has helped German cable network operator Unitymedia to extend its cable network to create higher bandwidth for integrated communications and entertainment. The move will enable the North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse cable network operator to offer more residential customers triple-play services with telephony, Internet and digital TV.

 

The extension has allowed the customers to enjoy more bandwidth for TV, telephony and broadband Internet, with up to 32 Mbps which is two times faster than before. The operator is using Nortel optical technology to enable high-quality telephony, high-speed Internet and TV via a single cable connection.

 

According to Wim te Niet, president, Central Europe, Nortel, Unitymedia’s choice of Nortel’s optical networking and carrier VoIP solutions is a good example of how operators recognize that their next-generation technology can give competitive advantage by cost-effectively providing the highest levels of flexibility for delivering new, higher bandwidth services.

 

Nortel explains that Unitymedia’s network extension is based on Nortel's Communication Server 2000, an IP multimedia softswitch for network operators that supports SIP for VoIP telephony. The operator has upgraded the network to a 10 Gbps resilient optical ring and uses Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 terminals. The solution makes more broadband available for bandwidth-intensive applications like video-on-demand and new multimedia services.

 

Unitymedia provides 4.7 million customers in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse with basic cable services, of which 376,000 customers use Internet services, 222,000 have a telephone connection via cable and 925,000 watch digital TV.

 

Nortel delivers communications capabilities that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for their customers. Unitymedia is not the only operator in Germany that is using Nortel solutions. Kabel BW, one of the largest cable operators in Germany, is also using a complete carrier VoIP solution from Nortel to deliver triple-play services and preparing to offer unified communications to businesses and residents.