Communications Alliance today paid tribute to the more than 200 industry professionals who have worked to create the framework for the National Broadband Network.
At Communications Alliance events held this week in Sydney and Melbourne, the individuals – drawn from 72 Australian telecommunications companies – will be honoured for their contribution to the peak body’s NBN Project.
The participants, who all worked on a voluntary basis, have included telecommunications carriers and carriage service providers (including NBN Co.), equipment and cable vendors, IT systems providers, software vendors, network installers, the legal sector, consultants and other expert individuals.
The CEO of Communications Alliance, John Stanton, said the project exemplified the spirit of cooperation that Communications Alliance members applied to resolving many industry-wide challenges. He said that the work completed to date would underpin not only the NBN, but would also assist the roll-out of any other future high speed broadband networks in Australia.
Mr Stanton paid particular tribute to the leaders of the seven working groups (listed below), to the former Communications Alliance CEO, Anne Hurley, and to the lead consultants – Gary McLaren (now CTO at NBN Co and a team co-leader on the NBN Project) and Dr Paul Brooks – who successfully steered the project since its inception in May 2009.
The NBN working group leaders are as follows:
Gary McLaren CTO, NBN Co
Team Co-Leader – Reference Model
Ben Hickey Consulting Engineer, Juniper Networks
Team Co-Leader – Reference Model
Dino Georgiou GM, Industry Engagement and Strategy, Telstra
Team Leader – Wholesale Services
Phil Smith GM, Infrastructure, Opticomm
Team Leader – Early Stage Deployments
Rob Haylock Solutions Architect, Alcatel-Lucent
Team Leader – End User Premises
Colin Goodwin Group Product Manager, Ericsson
Team Leader – Technical
Greg Tilton GM, Systems Architecture & Technology, NBN Co
Team Leader – Operational
Dave Thompson GM Internet & Data Products (Acting), Optus
Team Leader – End User Migration
The Chairman of Communications Alliance, Michael Lee, congratulated the Communications Alliance NBN Project members on their achievements, which had laid the groundwork for the realisation of a world-class broadband network.
“The project is an outstanding example of communications industry collaboration. Members of the seven project streams have crafted technical and operational advice and solutions on areas including the NBN architecture, the shape of wholesale services, early stage deployments and issues relating to end-user premises and the migration of customers onto the NBN,” said Mr Lee.
The CEO of NBN Co, Mr Mike Quigley, said the project members had made an invaluable contribution to the design strength of the emerging NBN and to the work of NBN Co.
“Industry collaboration is vital to the success of NBN Co and the work done in the Communications Alliance NBN project has been instrumental in helping to develop key aspects of NBN Co’s product design, technical specification and operational processes.
“I thank all participants for their important contribution and congratulate Communications Alliance in facilitating such a productive and important industry dialogue,” commented Mr Quigley.
Some of the significant achievements of the working groups to date include:
- Developing an end-to-end reference model that identifies the architectural options for the delivery of NBN services – whether across optical fibre, wireless or satellite access technology.
- Creating wholesale service definition frameworks for Ethernet services and telephony access services.
- Defining a cohesive architecture for End User Premises - identifying possible options for issues such as in-house cabling and equipment based on industry best practice, national and international Standards.
- Exploration of the processes and interactions needed to achieve the smooth migration of an End User’s existing telephony and data services onto the NBN.
- Developing guidelines for use in deploying infrastructure in Greenfields areas (new housing developments) e.g. the installation of new main fibre conduits and distribution conduits.
- A draft specification for business-to-business (B2B) interactions and process that will enable retail service providers to deliver a working NBN-based service to end customers.
- Providing a consistent vocabulary and terminology for the passive optical network, its building blocks, and the technical issues which must be considered and resolved for the NBN.
- Identifying the relevant standards which underpin the ability of the telecommunications industry to implement the NBN Reference Model and wholesale services that run on it.
ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE
Communications Alliance is the peak body for the Australian communications industry. It presents a unified voice for its members in public policy, facilitates industry solutions to industry issues, and provides up-to-date information on industry issues. Communications Alliance is also leading the industry's response to the National Broadband Network implementation. For further information see www.commsalliance.com.au