DT’s Ian Farrer on the All IPv6 TeraStream Network

A few months back we announced how Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia’s largest telecommunications company, is using a Cisco’s end-to-end solution for its advanced TeraStream cloud-enabled Internet Protocol (IP) architecture. Operated by Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), it’s initially providing broadband services to residential users in the Zagreb area of Croatia.

Cisco and Deutsche Telekom have been working together since 2011 to develop and validate the novel and open TeraStream architecture to significantly reduce network and system complexity and improve operational efficiency. Ultimately we see deployments such as TeraStream transforming the way telecommunications networks are built and operated and the way services are delivered, providing optimization and better monetization of carriers’ network assets.

There are a number of novel elements in the TeraStream network – for example, it’s got an all-IPv6 streamlined routing architecture, so no running out of IP addresses or dealing with dual-stock or IPv4 issues. The IP and optical layers are fully converged using Cisco’s coherent 100G nLight technology on the ONS 15454 MSTP so there is no legacy SDH to manage (not that’s it’s even needed in an all-IP network). And TeraStream has been built from the ground up to easily grow beyond 100G when necessary, in part by using the ASR 9922 Aggregation Series Router – the largest in the ASR9000 family – for the IP layer.

TeraStream also supports integrated cloud service centers which enable virtualized network services and applications for rapid service innovation, elastic service creation, plus programmatic interfaces enabled by the Cisco Open Network Environment, embracing software-defined networking (SDN) technologies for real-time automation.

Last week at IPv6 World Congress 2013 we spoke with Ian Farrer, Senior Network Architect for Deutsche Telekom. Watch to get his perspective on some of the technical and operational challenges associated with being one of the first operational all-IPv6 networks.