Managed network enables HTM to concentrate its core business

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HTM interconnected its data centres and major office sites in The Hague using high-speed Ethernet links from Colt. The links carry data and voice traffic, cutting costs and reducing HTM’s supplier list.

Simplicity for better performance

HTM wanted a high-speed network between its data centre and nine major sites in The Hague, Netherlands, which support nearly 2,500 employees. It had three key objectives:

• Interconnect the data centre and major sites, but without having to manage the traffic itself
• Reduce its spending on voice telephony and PBXs by moving to voice over IP (VoIP)
• Reduce its supplier list from 256 to 36 by finding a one-stop-shop service-provider.

HTM chose IP over Ethernet, part of Colt CPE Solutions, which is a portfolio of networking services based on managed customer premises equipment (CPE). It is a unique service that can provide managed IP over Ethernet at up to 1Gbps at a highly attractive cost per bit-per-second.

Because it is a managed service, the IP configuration and address allocation are handled by Colt, eliminating a management overhead for HTM.

LAN performance between the sites

The new network carries all HTM’s data and voice traffic between its sites. Physically the network is a hub-and-spoke configuration, with the data centre acting as the hub, but logically it is an any-to-any network.

Colt CPE Solutions connects the nine main sites and the hub with fully redundant 1Gbps Ethernet links. As shown in Figure 1 on page two, most of the spoke sites have dual links to the hub site, so in the unlikely event of congestion or failure there is an alternative path. Each link connects in to separate CPE.

The connections provide LAN-like performance across the metro area, with the simplicity of having a single protocol – Ethernet – throughout.

Class of Service for voice

Class of Service (CoS) was enabled, so that HTM could prioritise VoIP traffic over the network. CoS sets minimum levels for certain parameters such as latency (the time it takes for signals to transit the network), and prioritises urgent traffic – ideal for voice and video.

HTM had a further 18 smaller sites that required VoIP. Colt connected them into the hub site using IP VPN Corporate, a managed IP service designed for lower speeds of up to 155Mbps.

Colt IP Access at the hub site provided internet access to all the sites connected to the hub. Colt’s flexible approach, providing multiple services to address different needs at the customer’s multiple sites, was part of the
reason HTM chose Colt as its supplier.

Near-real-time monitoring

Colt’s online performance not have to manage its IP traffic; it has reduced the number of suppliers it has to deal with; and it has reduced its voice costs by converging all its traffic onto the single network.

Full range of networking solutions

CPE Solutions is just one of Colt’s wide range of network services, which range from leased lines through frame relay, ATM and Ethernet services to IP VPN services.