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You are here: Home Page > News & events > News > 2008

ntl:Telewest Business brings Class of Service controls to DSL

First UK telco to offer Class of Service (CoS) options across entire next generation connectivity portfolio
Different CoS enable DSL customers to apply more sophisticated

prioritisation to key data, voice and video traffic
DSL broadband services gain prioritisation options similar to higher capacity communications services

7th July, 2008. ntl:Telewest Business, part of the Virgin Media group, has announced that it has upgraded its converged solutions portfolio and is now able to provide organisations with Class of Service options (CoS), across its IPVPN product, which includes its Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections.

The new CoS offering is available immediately on all dedicated ntl:Telewest Business DSL services, which range in speed from 12 Kilobits per second (Kbps) to 8 Megabits per second (Mbps). Higher capacity services also gained greater granularity of traffic prioritisation with an increase from four CoS to eight. The upgrade ensures that the same choice is now available on all DSL services, meaning smaller businesses and those that need to connect multiple branch offices can now benefit from traffic prioritisation throughout their network.

With Next Generation Networks (NGNs) now enabling more sophisticated converged data and voice technologies, the need for businesses to ensure that their network is delivering the speed and performance required is becoming increasingly more important. The availability of CoS for DSL means organisations can ring-fence their most critical or performance-sensitive network traffic, such as voice and video, from other less crucial data.

“For the first time, businesses can exert control over traffic on their DSL lines in a similar way to the rest of the network,” said Stephen Beynon, MD of ntl:Telewest Business. “This makes the use of IP voice and other performance-sensitive applications a reality to all users of the network, not just those on the core. It will mean businesses really can capitalise on these applications for their home workers and smaller offices.”

“This level of sophisticated traffic prioritisation puts us head and shoulders above other UK telcos in our ability to offer next generation traffic controls. By responding to the fast-changing needs of our customers, we hope to provide them with the flexibility and agility they need to support the applications required for collaborative working in an increasingly mobile workforce, now and in the future,” said Mr Beynon.

The two CoS for DSL are:

Real Time: Voice and video media (real time). These are typically variable rate applications that require low jitter and packet loss, plus very low delay. Normally these are Voice over IP (VoIP) and sensitive video applications that do not have the ability to change encoding rates, or to mark packets with different importance indications.
Standard: The Standard service class is for applications that have not been identified as requiring differentiated treatment.

A further CoS, enabling critical data traffic to be run separately to the two other

classes, will be introduced next month.

About ntl:Telewest Business

ntl:Telewest Business has the most technically advanced of the UK’s two national networks. Its vast nation-wide Next Generation Network provides businesses, public sector organisations and service providers across the UK with a complete portfolio of advanced data, internet and voice services. The £13billion network is flexible, scaleable and is already built out to more than 38,000 street cabinets across the UK.

As part of a commitment to deliver superior customer service, ntl:Telewest Business sales and support teams are located in close proximity to its customers in over 40 centres across the UK. ntl:Telewest Business is trusted to provide critical communications to high profile customers including Yorkshire Water and EasyJet.

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For further information go to http://www.ntltelewestbusiness.co.uk/