Fully managed Wide Area Network (WAN) that became the backbone for network monitoring in TV transmission
The key criterion for running Network Monitoring System (NMS) across its many sites meant that TX Australia (TXA) needed a network that guaranteed service availability and provided true network redundancy with carrier diversity.
THE CHALLENGE
TX Australia (TXA) owns and operates TV transmission and retransmission facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. A joint venture owned equally by Australia’s three commercial metropolitan television networks, Seven, Nine and Ten. It provides TV transmission for broadcasters and markets its infrastructure facilities to access seekers.
TXA maintains a large MPLS Wide Area Network (WAN) across its many sites to run its Network Monitoring System (NMS). Tim Neall, General Manager of Operations at TXA, said: “Our key criterion was service availability. In our game you can’t afford any downtime. That meant our provider would have to have diversity in its own network, with a complete network-independent redundancy.”
TXA required a network that would provide:
- Rapid deployment to remote locations
- Service availability with QoS guarantees for always on service
- Easy scalability to add sites in the future
- A cost effective solution.
OUR APPROACH
TXA chose Vertel for our ability to offer a carrier grade fixed wireless and an in-ground fibre solution. Vertel’s MEF certified Carrier Ethernet 2.0 network service has guaranteed performance parameters such as packet loss, latency, jitter, including a quality of service availability guarantee equivalent (or better) to fibre. This enabled the end-to-end operation of all real-time data, voice and video applications.
By using its existing fixed wireless access infrastructure and a fibre core, Vertel was able to deliver carrier grade broadband to all of TXA’s sites, including those that lacked fibre connectivity. For those with fibre, Vertel microwave could provide an extra level of redundancy. The network could also provide the foundation for TXA to centralise the command and control of their network to manage their video feeds much more efficiently.
THE SOLUTION
The Vertel solution involved a diverse 1+1 configuration consisting of a Vertel Etherwave E-LAN mesh logical architecture, with the main 100MB link in Perth and 10MB in the remaining locations. This solution allows any-to-any Layer-2 Ethernet communication between all sites on the network. Vertel also delivered high speed Internet service to three of the sites.
The network rollout was completed in early 2017. As well as replacing the backbone of the existing Network Monitoring System, the Vertel network has enabled improved functionality in other areas.
- Rapid deployment to remote locations.
- QoS guaranteed any-to-any Layer 2 Ethernet connectivity to all sites.
- Diverse 1+1 configuration for true network redundancy.
- MEF certified Carrier Ethernet service.
- High capacity symmetrical Internet to 3 sites.
THE RESULTS
TXA has received many benefits from the network delivered by Vertel. First and foremost, it now has a reliable and future-proofed network, which provides a solid foundation for program delivery.
Tim Neall, General Manager of Operations at TXA, said:
- Responsive: “Vertel’s responsiveness has been a major advantage to us. If any of our services go down we need to get it back up straight away. Vertel gives that immediate service, whereas with a major carrier we could be on the phone for hours. That in itself is a huge leap forward for us.”
- Future-focused: “We’re also looking to centralise the command and control of our network, including the potential establishment of a NOC (Network Operations Centre), which means we will be able to manage our video feeds much more efficiently. Vertel has given us the path to lay that foundation.”
- Scalable: “We're building towards getting bigger pipelines on what we've already got with Vertel, so there's an increase in capacity as that comes on line.