RMIT University upgrades Nortel data network

Corporate IT Update, May 1, 2008

CORPORATE IT UPDATE-(C)1995-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RMIT University (The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in Melbourne, Australia, is upgrading its data network from Nortel (NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT), a communications solutions provider, to support new, high-bandwidth services such as media streaming, YouTube feeds and videoconferencing for staff and students across 220 locations.

According to the company, the upgrade will increase network bandwidth tenfold and provide the data network infrastructure to run RMIT's voice solution, also from Nortel, which was announced in February 2008. The new data network will enable the university to drive high-bandwidth media streaming applications across its 12,500 PCs without affecting the performance of business-critical communications and media-intense research applications. In addition, it will support voice traffic from over 5,000 Nortel IP phones.

Nortel's solution will reportedly see the replacement of 920 network switches with Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 4500s. The new switches will also provide Power-over-Ethernet support for the university's IP handsets and other network-powered devices, eliminating the need for separate power boards for these devices. In addition, RMIT's data core, comprising Nortel ERS 8600 switches, will be upgraded with 10Gb support in the near future.

One converged network will be easier to maintain than two previously separate data and voice platforms, especially when users are using multiple devices to make voice calls, watch videos or access various teaching and research resources the university makes available online, claimed the executive director of IT Services at RMIT.

The value of the project is estimated at USD2m.

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