The deal, for an undisclosed amount, allows the carrier to implement a new "intelligent" networking transport layer that interconnects to all the elements that make up the third-generation mobile network itself and provides interfaces to the peripheral systems that provide third-generation services, Vodafone Australia engineers said.
They said the solution would provide "cost savings, improved convergence times and higher resilience across the network," which is being built by Vodafone Australia's third-generation mobile network supplier Nokia.
Lucent Technologies is designing and implementing the new Internet protocol/Multiprotocol label switching solution using a Juniper Networks M320 Multiservice Edge Platform to create a core that will carry Vodafone's second-generation, 2.5 and third-generation traffic between Brisbane and Melbourne vis Sydney.
Previously the traffic has been carried across lower-speed asynchronous transfer mode systems.
Lucent is also providing ongoing maintenance and support services.
