Telekom Austria Uses RAD Solution to Deliver Managed Ethernet Services on a Layer 2 Infrastructure

April 15, 2008: Telekom Austria is using access equipment from RAD Data Communications to deliver its advanced "EtherLink" Ethernet services.

Austria's foremost telecommunications provider is offering these managed Layer 2 services to enterprise and wholesale customers nationwide. Thanks to customer-located, OAM-enabled (operations, administration and maintenance) Ethernet network termination units (E-NTUs) – ETX-102 and ETX-202 devices from RAD – Telekom Austria can respond swiftly and efficiently if a network fault occurs. Their ability to provide intelligent demarcation between the customer's and operator's networks, end-to-end management of services across the entire network, and differentiation and prioritization of network applications, RAD's E-NTUs create the right basis for guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

"With ETX E-NTUs from RAD, we are able to offer sophisticated, highly flexible and scalable services inexpensively on our Layer 2 infrastructure," says Helmut Leopold, Director of Platform and Technology Management at Telekom Austria TA AG. "They not only enable our customers to implement a raft of new applications, they can also carry Layer 3 services without compromising on quality. As a core component in our EtherLink offering, RAD's E-NTUs fit perfectly with our infrastructure and interoperate problem-free with our existing equipment. Above all, they’ve proven their worth when it comes to monitoring, error management, and remote configuration and are helping to significantly reduce our SLA fulfillment costs."

The ETX-102 and ETX-202 are intelligent demarcation devices owned and operated by the service provider and installed at customer premises. With traffic engineering and remote access capabilities to enable monitoring and troubleshooting at the official transition point to the customer's network, they ensure exceptionally reliable provisioning of Ethernet services. Designed to carry Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet traffic, the ETX units also provide extensive error-detection and diagnostic functionalities that allow carriers and service providers to meet a broad range of customer requirements and to offer binding SLAs with QoS guarantees across the entire service path. RAD's ETX products are certified to the Metro Ethernet Forum’s MEF-9 and MEF-14 standards and conform to the IEEE 802.1ag standard.

"With its ETX devices, RAD not only offers reliable and standards-compliant NTUs, it also supports OAM functionalities for simple point-to-point applications as well as more sophisticated multipoint services," explains Volker Bendzuweit, General Manager of RAD Data Communications for the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). "Today, OAM is a 'must have' in carrier-class Ethernet technology. It enables carriers and service providers to proactively monitor and control services and to take immediate action if a fault occurs. Telekom Austria's EtherLink services are an outstanding example of an innovative approach to managed network services, and we're proud to be playing a crucial role in the delivery of these services by providing capabilities for remote management all the way to customer premises."

"We are delighted that our expertise has helped to provide the right E-NTU solution for the EtherLink services," says Wolfgang Krones, General Manager of ITM, the local RAD partner supplying the equipment to Telekom Austria. "Having evaluated a number of different solutions, Telekom Austria decided in favor of the ETX products, because they offer the greatest number of OAM features at an affordable price."

Telekom Austria Group, Austria's largest telecommunications company, operates in its home market as well as a number of foreign countries. The Group has fixed-line and mobile communications segments. The fixed-line segment encompasses all of Telekom Austria Group's fixed-line activities in Austria as well as Telekom Austria Czech Republic's activities in the Czech Republic. The product portfolio includes voice telephony, data and IT solutions, Internet access and media, value-added services, and wholesale services. The mobile communications segment comprises Telekom Austria Group’s mobile activities. Besides mobilkom austria, Telekom Austria Group’s mobile companies include Mobiltel in Bulgaria, MDC in Belarus, Vipnet in Croatia, Si.mobil in Slovenia, Vip mobile in Republic of Serbia, Vip operator in the Republic of Macedonia, and mobilkom liechtenstein in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Over 2.4 million fixed-line customers and more than 15.4 million mobile customers in Austria and other countries rely on Telekom Austria Group's products and services. The Group has 17,000 employees and reported revenues of EUR4.9 billion in fiscal 2007.

ITM GmbH has been operating in Germany and Austria as a supplier and integrator of voice and data communication systems since 1987. For a customer base that includes power utilities, network operators, Internet service providers, public transport carriers, municipalities, and industrial enterprises, ITM specializes in innovative strategies for everything from simple local area networks to integrated enterprise voice and data networks. The company's competencies include project planning, installation and integration, servicing, troubleshooting, and the rollout of network systems. ITM partners with leading vendors to offer a comprehensive portfolio of products. For more information, visit www.itm.group.com