Telstra gives a sneak peak at its network nerve centre
- — 01 September, 2009 15:39
Telstra's Global Operations Centre
Telstra has celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its Global Operations Centre by throwing open its doors and putting its nerve-centre on display.
The Global Operations Centre in Melbourne was built to monitor, measure and manage the major peaks in network traffic that may be created by a large international event. The driving force to create the centre was the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“The Global Operations Centre has been at the centre of major Australian and world events for 10 years, monitoring and managing the traffic across our networks and keeping Australians connected to each other and the rest of the world,” said Telstra's Michael Rocca. “As you can expect, international events over the years such as the Sydney Olympics and World Youth Day caused major peaks in network traffic. Having a holistic view of all of our networks, enables us to monitor these peaks, rerouting traffic and adjusting capacity as required.”
However, this integrated single-site telecommunications management facility has also been responsible for monitoring Telstra's entire network across Australia and overseas around the clock.
This involves handling almost 5 billion PSTN calls per year, 9 billion SMS messages, 10 million Telstra mobile services and more than 1 million wireless broadband customers, as well as monitoring the whole core NextIP network (the IP-based backbone of all of Telstra's networks), GSM, Next G, PSTN, ADSL and cable networks.
The recent display of the Global Operations Centre showcased the systems and teams that allow the centre to run 24 hours a day. These systems include a digital video wall measuring 24x2.5 metres that provides a real-time overview of the entire network's performance, along with live news feeds and weather information. Together with the 400 staff members that fill the 180-seat centre over three-shifts, these systems allow the entire Telstra network to be closely monitored and kept running as efficiently as possible, especially during times of peaks in traffic and demand.
