BT Group transforms its business approach with a cloud core network from Juniper Networks
Thu 20 Jul 2023
Juniper Networks has supported BT Group’s ongoing transformation journey towards a highly scalable, automated and robust cloud core infrastructure for business and consumer customers.
BT Network Cloud will support diverse network applications across broadband, fixed, mobile and other mission-critical services on a single platform, using Juniper Networks’ high-performance cloud-native solutions and professional services.
With this strategic deployment, BT Network Cloud has now scaled to accommodate multiple key network-centric applications, such as mobile voice and data, broadband authentication and IP voice calls for tens of millions of customers without extra overhead costs.
Infrastructure consolidation and virtualisation, along with improved hardware density and power efficiency, is expected to reduce space and power requirements in support of a more sustainable infrastructure.
“We are delighted that Juniper’s cloud-native networking solutions and comprehensive professional services were selected as the cornerstone of the BT Network Cloud. BT can respond to the demands of the next chapter of digital transformation at scale whilst leveraging the power of the network to enable new digital services for BT’s customers, fully supported by a cloud-native architecture enabling security, automation, scale and agility,” said Raj Yavatkar, Chief Technology Officer at Juniper Networks.
BT simplifies and improves service quality with agile network cloud
BT Network Cloud enables applications that underpin BT Group’s UK consumer and business network services.
BT’s cloud-native platform is deployed at multiple locations across the UK to form a distributed architecture designed to scale seamlessly alongside demand and to provide services closer to the end user than with traditional, more centralised deployments.
Juniper’s high-performance, high-availability fabric for BT Network Cloud is said to provide extreme robustness and high performance for BT Group’s core applications across a widely-distributed user base deployed at multiple locations across the UK.
Moving from dedicated compute platforms for each application to a shared infrastructure conserves and optimises resources leading to better resource utilisation and significantly lower environmental impact.
BT uses Juniper for open, software-defined networking (SDN), switching and firewall solutions for its network cloud. The service provider uses Juniper’s SDN platform to automate the creation and management of its OpenStack-based telco cloud. The platform provides hybrid SDN orchestration and centralised control of virtual switching, routing and security. BT is running cloud-native containerised applications and optimising costs using OpenStack.
The provider’s network cloud optimises service quality and streamlines operational deployment and management of core applications, which enables innovation and agility in delivering new services to market such as enhanced 5G services.
“Telecoms services have become central to business and consumer lives and as the UK’s national network provider, BT Group has a particular responsibility to lead from the front to deliver the cloud-native, sustainable digital services of the future. Our work with partners such as Juniper is helping to ensure that our critical infrastructure, network and services are agile, secure and resilient for the long term. Our millions of customers can remain confident in the experience-led integrity of the everyday and exceptional digital services on which they rely,” said Howard Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer at BT Group.
5G roll out and scale to meet digital demand
The introduction of 5G created a unique opportunity for BT Group to transform its core network to ensure it was well-positioned to offer a dynamic range of new services to customers at unprecedented scale.
BT Group chose to build a network cloud to provide a common shared platform for core applications, which operate its broadband, fixed and mobile services. BT Group has migrated tens of millions of mobile subscribers and successfully deployed all its mobile application infrastructure on its network cloud.
The goal of the multiyear journey at BT Group was to deploy a state-of-the-art container-based fixed, broadband and mobile core that will boost business agility, operational efficiency, sustainability and meet security compliance.
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