Some of the services the Melbourne-based provider offers, include voice and IP telephony, data and Internet, hosting, co-location, and firewall and security.
Many of the provider's customers have a mix of traffic running across their VPNs (Virtual Private Network) that includes demanding applications such as VOIP, Citrix and Windows Terminal Services in conjunction with email, Web browsing and file sharing, said Telarus managing director, Jules Rumsey.
"Without IP QOS, this would result in poor voice quality, dropped calls, and the disruption of access to mission critical applications being accessed via Citrix or Windows Terminal Services," he said.
Rumsey said the previous generation of Cisco equipment had performed extremely well and delivered excellent performance and availability but was not well suited to handling high volumes of traffic with IP QOS enabled. Additionally, it would not have been able to handle the load generated by enabling the features that would underpin some of its new product initiatives, he said.
Other vendor options were considered for the upgrade but the Cisco solution was "superior" for its needs, Rumsey said.
He added that relying on a sole provider for the platform made managing the network significantly easier. "We cannot afford the vendor interoperability problems that often arise when deploying solutions from mixed vendors," he said.
The key element in the network upgrade was a suite of Cisco 7301 routers which form the new BRAS (Broadband Remote Access Server) platform. The routers also feature the new NPE-G1 processor, which allows it to switch very high volumes of traffic while enabling IP QOS, advanced security features and Netflow accounting, he said.
The first stage of the upgrade, which took two months, is now complete. In the next stage, to be progressively deployed over the next 6-12 months, it will be deploying Cisco 7600 routers to replace its existing Cisco 7500 series routers. "This will provide further enhancements in scalability to accommodate forecasted growth," Rumsey said.