The IT Nerd

Telstra and the National Hockey League (NHL) have signed a five-year agreement to distribute up to 1,400 games per year to viewers around the world using Telstra’s Global Media Network (GMN).  The deal will see Telstra deliver NHL games to rights-holders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with plans to expand to other markets worldwide. 

Telstra’s GMN is a purpose-built video contribution and distribution network supporting permanent and occasional use services for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint on a consumptive-based business model across traditional broadcast, IP video standards and cloud connectivity. 

Telstra will support the delivery of the NHL content through its Broadcast Operations Centers in Pittsburgh, Sydney and London. These centers provide 24/7 monitoring of Telstra’s Global Media Network, ensuring continuous stable and reliable connectivity to provide fans with the highest-quality viewing experience. 

Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company with a proudly Australian heritage and a longstanding, growing international business. We have been operating in the Americas for over 25 years and provide data and IP transit, internet connectivity, network application services such as unified communications and cloud, and managed services to over 500 businesses in 160 cities in the region. Our products and services are supported by one of the largest fiber optic submarine cable systems reaching Asia-Pacific and beyond, with licenses in Asia, Europe and the Americas, and access to more than 2,000 points-of-presence around the world. Through our unparalleled network reach and reliability as well as market-leading customer service and expertise, we connect businesses in the Americas to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, including China, Southeast Asia, North Asia, and Australia. For more information, please visit www.telstra.com/americas.

Telstra was honored for its ongoing advancements in subsea network infrastructure, as well as its commitment to diversity and inclusion, at this year’s Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC’22). 

The global telecommunications and technology company took home two prestigious awards at the globally recognized industry event: the Outstanding Submarine Company award, and the Outstanding Diversity and Inclusion Champion award.

The D&I Champion award recognized Telstra’s efforts to consistently foster a supportive and fully inclusive work environment for all employees, with a focus on empowerment, career development, innovative recruiting and workplace culture.

Camplin-Warner added, “Telstra believes that a commitment to D&I is a commitment to the success of our entire organization. We place as much emphasis on our people and our culture as we do on our customer-focused deliverables, because D&I is everyone’s business.”

PTC is dedicated to promoting the advancement of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Pacific Rim, the most dynamic geography of the world, spanning more than 40 nations.

Telstra has named Vish Vishwanathan as Vice President of its Wholesale group for the Americas. He joins Telstra as the company is entering its latest phase of international growth and network expansion.  

Vishwanathan will take charge of Telstra’s existing business that serves telecom and satellite providers across North America, spearhead plans to extend the company’s reach across Latin America and expand its services capabilities to satellite operators. 

Vishwanathan will draw on his 30-plus years of experience in the telecommunications industry, successfully launching new technologies and services, leading sales organizations and developing new markets across the Americas, Europe and Asia. 

Vishwanathan previously led global IP network sales for NTT and has also held senior sales and market development roles at CenturyLink, MCI International and Motorola.

Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company with a proudly Australian heritage and a longstanding, growing international business. They have been operating in the Americas for over 25 years and provide data and IP transit, internet connectivity, network application services such as unified communications and cloud, and managed services to over 500 businesses in 160 cities in the region. Their products and services are supported by one of the largest fiber optic submarine cable systems reaching Asia-Pacific and beyond, with licenses in Asia, Europe and the Americas, and access to more than 2,000 points-of-presence around the world. Through their unparalleled network reach and reliability as well as market-leading customer service and expertise, they connect businesses in the Americas to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, including China, Southeast Asia, North Asia, and Australia. For more information, please visit www.telstra.com/americas.

Telstra is expanding its network infrastructure in the United States by nearly tripling its footprint at a primary data center in Ashburn, Virginia. The upgrade continues the global telecommunications and technology company’s ongoing efforts to support customers across the U.S. by making network investments and adding new points-of-presence (PoP).

The Ashburn expansion also adds extra layers of network resiliency to ensure Telstra customers experience stable connectivity in the event of natural disasters or network intrusions.

Telstra operates out of the Ashburn (DC21) facility, which is managed by its long-time partner, Equinix. The facility is focused on providing low-latency connectivity to and from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. When completed in early 2022, Ashburn will be Telstra’s third core node on the U.S. East Coast.

The Ashburn region is home to a diverse range of online commerce and cloud-focused companies, making it a perfect fit for Telstra’s established and developing technologies supported from the growing facility including SD-WAN, Ethernet Private Line (EPL), Global IP and IPVPN network options.

The Ashburn upgrade also supports Telstra’s global growth strategy. Telstra plans to add more than 70 Tbps of capacity across its international network by June 2022 to support customers’ growth plans. This investment, part of Telstra’s ongoing network expansion, will increase key routes between North America, Europe and Asia, with more than half of the new capacity within the Asia-Pacific region where demand from U.S. and Canadian businesses continues to be strong.

The Ashburn node will be fully interconnected with Telstra’s existing POPs in New York, New Jersey and California with easy access to cable systems on both coasts. The new installation also expands Telstra’s relationship with Equinix. The two companies recently collaborated on enhancements to the Telstra Octagon capital markets network solution, and the DC21 site is fully integrated via cross-connection with the other sites on the Equinix Ashburn complex.

Telstra today announced it is collaborating with Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company™, to enhance the Telstra Octagon financial services solution and expand global access and direct connectivity between North America and eight of the world’s major futures and commodities exchanges.

Developed as a purpose-built solution for capital markets and fintech companies in North America, Telstra Octagon uses Telstra’s ultra-low latency global networks to support high-frequency trading activities. With Telstra’s financial trading solution available on Platform Equinix, Telstra can now offer financial organizations enhanced network connectivity, as well as access to Equinix data center, colocation and Equinix Fabric™ interconnection services adjacent to the exchanges. 

This combination gives Telstra Octagon users – including financial organizations, investors, trading firms and their customers – expanded trading capabilities, as well as broader support for their global network requirements through expanded connectivity, cloud and IP delivery options.

Priority end-to-end access enables financial and trading organizations to respond to market-moving events as they happen and execute investment strategies across Asian and North American capital markets. 

With Telstra Octagon, organizations can access high-frequency trading environments faster between North America and the Asia-Pacific regions, including the NASDAQ and CBOE exchanges in Equinix NY, CME and ICE, ASX in Australia, HKEX in Hong Kong, SGX in Singapore, TAIFEX in Taiwan, KRX in South Korea and JPX in Japan — representing more than a trillion dollars in contracts traded daily. 

Beyond overall trading, Telstra Octagon can also provide value to organizations related to price discovery, risk analysis, smart order routing, flow and matching, trade execution and settlement activities. More information on Telstra Octagon is available at https://www.telstra.us.com/en/industries/financial-services. 

Infinera and Telstra announced today the deployment of Infinera’s coherent 800G solution across Telstra’s international network. The deployment follows a significant industry milestone that Telstra achieved with Infinera, leveraging Infinera’s ICE6 800G coherent technology on its GX Series Compact Modular Platform over a dispersion-managed subsea cable between Hong Kong and Singapore, a segment that spans 2,940 kilometers. With Infinera’s ICE6 solution, Telstra can realize a 45% increase in capacity over previous-generation technology and 20 times the original design capacity of the cable, underscoring the value of Infinera’s innovative solutions.

Bandwidth demand continues to rise at exponential rates, putting pressure on older subsea cables and potentially shortening their economic lifespan, even though they are designed for a 25-year operational life. At the same time, network operators like Telstra are challenged with scaling and delivering capacity in the APAC region, one of the fastest growing regions for submarine network capacity. By deploying Infinera’s ICE6 solution, network providers are equipped to get the most out of their dispersion-managed subsea cables with the unique features of highly granular baud rate configuration, industry-leading long-codeword probabilistic constellation shaping (LC-PCS), and Nyquist subcarriers, on which Infinera has a five-year implementation lead.

Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company with a proudly Australian heritage and a longstanding, growing international business. 

Today, we operate in over 20 countries outside of Australia, providing services to thousands of business, government, carrier and OTT customers. Telstra Enterprise is a division of Telstra that provides data and IP networks and network application services, such as managed networks, unified communications, cloud, industry solutions and integrated services. Telstra Purple, our new professional and managed services business in Australia, Asia and the UK, brings together people and innovative solutions to define and deliver a clear vision of our customers’ transformation journey, network foundation, and the protection they need to thrive.

Telstra’s global network includes more than 26 cable systems spanning over 400,000 kilometres, with access to multiple cable landing stations and more than 2,000 points of presence around the world. Our subsea cable network is the largest in Asia Pacific, with access to the most lit capacity not just in Asia, but also from the region to Australia, USA and Europe.

For more information, visit https://www.telstra.us.com

Telstra today announced it is a selected carrier for Microsoft Azure Peering Service, a networking service that enhances customer connectivity, and Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams, a new programmatic approach to operator-provided calling in Teams.

Today’s announcement builds on the long-standing relationship between Telstra and Microsoft to help enhance connectivity to Microsoft cloud services and provide an integrated calling experience via Teams.

Microsoft Azure Peering Service provides reliable and optimized internet connectivity to Microsoft cloud services such as Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Azure. Customers can register for the offering in the Azure portal, and Telstra and Microsoft will work closely to provide enterprise customers with end-to-end, high-performing public connectivity with optimal routing in their selected region.

This offering is integrated with Telstra Global Internet Direct (GID) to ensure robust connectivity service and secure access through a single network. Additionally, customers will enjoy high levels of availability of service and lower latency connections. Telstra is now offering Azure Peering Service to customers in Asia, with plans to expand availability to Europe and the United States next calendar year.

Building on the momentum from the launch of Telstra Calling for Microsoft Teams in August last year, Telstra has streamlined calling for users by providing a simplified and unified collaboration experience for organizations through Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams.

This offering will enable organizations to speed up and simplify the provisioning of telephony services and reduce deployment time by using advanced automation that integrates architecture components between Telstra and Microsoft. Additionally, business users will experience enhanced voice call quality through the use of private network infrastructure and administrators will gain ability to provision and manage telephone numbers via the Microsoft Teams Admin Center.

Telstra is recognized for its Microsoft Azure expertise and is a Microsoft Gold Partner in ten categories including Cloud Platform, Cloud Productivity and Communications, as well as a member of the Azure Expert MSP Program.