INTERKLAST upgraded 12 largest Mobile Backhaul (MBH) nodes of the network, based on CISCO ASR 9006 MPLS-routers and providing network operation in 9 largest regions of Ukraine: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Kirovograd, Mykolayiv, Odessa, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv and Kherson regions.
INTERKLAST conducted an audit, reconfiguration and optimization of the existing services to ensure an uninterrupted upgrade.

The following tasks were performed:
Chassis software upgrade;
RSP440 processors to RSP880 replacement;

Where needed, existing boards had been uninstalled and A9K-24X10GE-TR boards installed and configured.
As a result of the upgrade, the capacity of each of the 12 nodes increased by 200 Gb/s and the performance of the nodes was doubled. At the same time, all works were conducted with no impact on existing services.

INTERKLAST completed a 6 weeks long comprehensive audit of the Vodafone Ukraine backbone networks based on IP / MPLS technologies (Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks equipment) and DWDM (Cisco Systems and Huawei equipment). During the audit, an alternative technical solution was developed to upgrade the backbone network based on IP/MPLS technology.

The proposed solution made it possible to modernize the network of VF Ukraine PrJSC in a very short time. At the same time it ensured:

• the necessary bandwidth and network performance;
• significant savings in capital costs;
• maximum reuse of available resources of the network and equipment;
• minimal impact on existing services;
• absence of additional costs for staff training;
• reliable performance of the multivendor solution.

All the calculations of the throughput capacity of nodes and parts of the network, as well as recommendations included in the audit report, were proved right by the further implementation.

Juniper Networks is one of the leading manufacturers of telecommunication equipment for large service provides. Headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, the United States. More than 9,000  people are employed in 46 representative offices worldwide. Juniper Networks  solutions are sold in more than 100 countries.
Since it has been founded in 1996 Juniper Networks specializes in developing solutions for highly productive networks. Key product lines are: routing (ACX series, MX series, M series, PTX series, T-series), switching (EX series, QFX series), network security (SRX series).

In the course of the project, INTERKLAST team performed a number of tasks including

• Audit of all existing channels and installed network equipment;
• A new network architecture has been developed with the transition from point-to-point topology to ROADM nodes topology and further to the adoption of Mesh topology based nodes;
• A plan for a phased upgrade of the existing network was developed and implemented with the maximum reuse of existing equipment while simultaneously introducing new technologies;
• The implementation plan included not only installation of equipment on separate nodes, but also the transfer of equipment between nodes within the multiplex section to maximize the efficiency of existing equipment utilization and to ensure the minimal idle time of working channels;
• New 100 GB cards were installed;
• The channel plan was optimized and the frequency range of the optical network was efficiently allocated, taking into account the characteristics of all available equipment (100Gb – 40Gb – 10Gb – STM16 (2,5) – 1G);
• Required throughput on all elements of the network was provided, enabling the introduction of new technologies and satisfying requests from channel users;
• Automatic redundancy of optical channels (WSON) capability of the network operation was confirmed, which was also one of the results of a network upgrade.

As a result of the project, the maximum possible throughput of the DWDM backbone network was increased (from 320GB to 4TB), manageability and reliability of operation and simplicity of network maintenance were achieved while  extensively reusing existing equipment, thus reducing upgrade cost for the customer.

INTERKLAST becomes an official Cisco Systems Partner.

Cisco Systems is the world leader in the field of network technologies, changing the ways of human communication, communication and collaboration. The company is focused on five key technology areas: core routing, switching and services; collaborative solutions; virtualization of data centers and cloud computing; video-technology; architecture for business transformation. Cisco was founded in 1984. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California.