Backbone Directory: Bell Canada

Bell Canada's backbone network serves U.S. and international ISPs with a focus on reliability.

by Jeff Goldman [August 4, 2005]

The Bell Canada Carrier Services Group is the wholesale division of Bell Canada Enterprises. As a standalone business within Bell Canada, separated from the company's retail operation, the Carrier Services Group is set up specifically to provide services to customers on an impartial and confidential basis.

The company's OC-192 SONET/DWDM transport network is designed for maximum reliability, with physically diverse fiber routes, backup POPs, redundant transport and switching equipment, and optical and electrical protection switching capabilities. 10 OC48s provide connections to U.S. and international network providers, service providers and ISPs, riding over multiple OC-192 SONET protected rings.

The network's SONET rings use a Bi-directional Line Switching Ring architecture to protect against line cuts and laser failures. The network itself is monitored from the company's Network Operations Center in Toronto, and is designed to self-heal against any such failures within 50 milliseconds.

The company spends more than $350 million annually on R&D and network upgrades.

Key network features include the following:

• OC-192 SONET backbone network delivers security and high-performance data transmission with diversity at the carrier, gateway and point-of-presence levels
• Broad range of connection speeds, including DS-0, N x DS-0, DS-1, E-1, DS-3 and E-3
• Bandwidth ranges from 56 Kbps to OC-48
• SLAs with money back performance guarantees covering latency, packet loss, and availability
• Over 100 IP points of presence in large and medium sized markets across Canada and the U.S.

To ensure uptime, network redundancies include the following:

• Every network device has two separate links to two network devices
• Every device has redundant power supplies
• Multiple redundant paths throughout the network
• SONET Rings with 50 ms restoration times
• Fully redundant route reflectors

Corporate Contact Info:

	Executive:	Michael J. Sabia, President and CEO, Bell Canada Enterprises
	Headquarters:	1000, de la Gauchetière West, suite 3700, Montréal Québec, Canada, H3B 4Y7
	Voice:	888-932-6666
	Fax:	514-870-4385
	Sales:	877-463-9942 or csgsales.satventes@bell.ca
	Newsroom:	www.wholesale.bell.ca/customers/isp.htm
	Web inquiry form:	www.wholesale.bell.ca/contact/form.htm
	Financial:	NYSE: BCE