BT believes 21CN will provide the industry with the means to fulfil the potential for growth in new wave services. The availability of carrier-class, multi-service, IP networks and software-driven switching, is fuelling the agenda for fundamental change. Through the Consult21, we are working with the industry to give others the opportunity to help shape the way 21CN is developed.
21CN brings with it the possibility to deliver a step change in the way the industry creates and delivers services to customers. Although we cannot predict the future, we believe the following are typical ways that communications providers can benefit in the 21CN world:
21CN provides the infrastructure to enable the seamless, integrated communications that BT’s wholesale customers and their customers want, wherever they are operating around the world. It’s easier and cheaper to enter new markets with IP everywhere
21CN means that those who don’t wish to invest in huge amounts of infrastructure can leverage BT’s investment in 21CN. A good example is Wholesale Broadband Connect which offers a component-based next generation broadband service so CPs can choose to leverage their network assets to minimise their costs
21CN means that communications providers will be able to hook into BT's network to change various elements to meet their own service requirements.
21CN provides communications providers with the opportunity to offer differentiated services. A good example is Wholesale Broadband Connect with tiered quality of service, the ability to trade speed for more line stability, improved line diagnostics and sophisticated line management… which gives communications providers the ability to offer end users tailored broadband services.
21CN means that BT’s wholesale customers will move to a business management model where service fulfilment and assurance is available in real-time
21CN is about offering real choice. It will empower communications providers to customise the services on offer. They’ll be able to customise the appearance of the bills and other contact points with their customers, branding them where it makes sense to them. And it doesn’t stop there. It’s about offering the ability to customise any aspect of any service - at any level - for example:
They choose what they want. They could re-label BT’s online wholesale services and run their own in the background
They could build, design and manage their own web site and host it in a BT data centre and still use BT to provide wholesale network and service capability
They could host the web site themselves, using data feeds in and out to control the networks and services BT supplies
Those with their own customer relationship management systems and billing systems might only need customer contact and routing from BT.