BT chooses Juniper Networks to unify services for cloud initiative and 5G future

BT will develop its 5G capabilities further after striking an agreement with Juniper Networks. The network developer will support BT in the delivery of its Network Cloud infrastructure initiative, which will allow various lines of its business on a single platform.

A more flexible, virtualised network infrastructure will allow the biggest British telco to create new converged services for mobile, Wi-Fi, and fixed networks.

It will also bring about a range of new applications that evolve services such as internet access, TV and business network functions.

After EE, BT’s subsidiary, launched 5G in the UK on May 22, Guillaume Sampic, enterprise strategy director at BT, said that the benefits of 5G to businesses in terms of latency, speed, reliability and volume will “be a step change” from 4G.

Commenting on the Juniper Networks agreement, Neil McRae, chief architect at BT, said: “BT is a global leader in ultrafast services, with growing demand from our ultrafast broadband services and ultrafast 5G services and has the perfect opportunity to combine several discrete networks into a unified, automated infrastructure.

“This move to a single cloud-driven network infrastructure will enable BT to offer a wider range of services, faster and more efficiently to customers in the UK and around the world.”

The Network Cloud infrastructure initiative will integrate seamlessly with BT’s other partners and solutions to move it closer to an automated and programmable network, which will benefit services such as ISP, TV, IT and its voice, mobile core, radio access and internal applications.

BT is investing in a range of Juniper solutions across various tenants within the BT network, including a dynamic end-to-end networking policy and control for telco cloud workloads using Contrail Networking, cloud operations management using AppFormix and a scalable and flexible spine and leaf underlay fabric using the QFX Series.

“As a renowned global service provider, BT is a shining example of how to evolve networks to become more agile,” said Bikash Koley, CTO, Juniper Networks. “By leveraging the ‘beach-front property’ it has in central offices around the globe, BT can optimise the business value that 5G’s bandwidth and connectivity brings.

“The move to an integrated telco cloud platform brings always-on reliability, along with enhanced automation capabilities, to help improve business continuity and increase time-to-market while doing so in a cost-effective manner.”

Capacity recently spoke with Juniper Networks to learn more about its cloud-based SD-WAN solution and how differs from the competition.