Andrew McDonald (Vodafone NZ)
A six-month project to upgrade Vodafone NZ’s international optical network is complete across all three cables, Tasman Global Access (TGA), Southern Cross and Hawaiki.
Vodafone tapped Ciena to complete the upgrade using its 6500 Converged Packet Optical platform.
Vodafone NZ said it was now the only operator in New Zealand offering exclusive-use optical capacity, a service that large organisations are increasingly using to enable dedicated, high speed and high capacity international data transfers.
Andrew McDonald, Vodafone NZ's head of wholesale, said the network rebuild offered a step-change in how the telco could manage internet traffic, connecting all three major submarine cables linking New Zealand with Australia, the South Pacific and North America.
"Data transfer is increasingly important in today’s inter-connected world, and organisations like banks and government agencies need to know their data is transferred via reliable and resilient pathways," McDonald said.
"New Zealanders are consuming around 40 per cent more data every year and so businesses need to plan for future growth in applications."
The capacity was important for applications such as video calling, where enterprises need to transmit video from thousands of online conference calls between locations across New Zealand and Sydney at millisecond speed.
“This international optical fibre network is another great example where sensible infrastructure sharing can make sense, enabling us to wholesale services to other industry participants so that they can then in turn provide great retail services to customers,” McDonald said.
Matt Vesperman, managing director for Ciena Australia and New Zealand said the eruption of the global content economy had made programmable optical networks critical in meeting user demands, especially across borders.
Earlier this year, Vodafone NZ enabled wholesale customer self service using AWS to set up a private cloud and deploy quote-order-bill technology as well as leveraging TM Forum’s Open Digital Framework components, which provide a migration path from legacy IT systems and processes to modular, cloud native software orchestrated using AI and including Open APIs.
95 per cent of customer interactions were now digital and Vodafone NZ wholesale reported its net promoter score doubled from 30 to 63.
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