Vertel chosen by NSW government as an approved supplier of SD-WAN services

June 4, 2019 – Vertel, Australia’s largest privately owned telecommunications carrier, has been selected as an approved supplier of Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) services for the NSW Government.

In 2015, Vertel was selected by eHealth NSW to participate in the delivery of the Health Wide Area Network (HWAN) project. Following this successful partnership, in July 2018 Vertel was successful in being appointed as an approved provider of data carriage services under the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation (DFSI) Telecommunications Purchasing Arrangements (TPAs) contract. The TPA was based on standard specifications for four service towers including fixed data, Internet, fixed voice, and mobile.

The NSW Government has now added an additional tower for Network Applications-as-a-Service, and Vertel has been selected as one of the approved suppliers for SD-WAN. Vertel’s SD-WAN managed services offering is powered by Nuage Networks from Nokia, which is built on a smart layer of software that delivers high-performing networking without an expensive network rebuild.
With SD-WAN, the control plane is separated from networking hardware and is implemented as software in the cloud. The end result is a virtual overlay network that runs across any underlying IP link to provide seamless connectivity between all sites.

Network administrators can configure links, set policies and apply them via a single, customisable customer portal that provides granular, real-time visibility and control of every location across the network. And, because SD-WAN can incorporate any wired or wireless transport including NBN, wireless, DSL, LTE (4G), satellite or public Internet, government agencies can reduce their reliance on customised networking and expensive multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) links.

SD-WAN also enables the separation of telecommunication link contracts from network infrastructure and management contracts, providing government with greater flexibility and control over network costs and provisioning.

At Vertel, SD-WAN underpins the delivery of a range of enhanced ICT services such as managed security, unified communications, IP-PBX, video conferencing, carrier-grade WLAN, private LTE, push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) and multi-access edge computing (MEC) services, all of which are able to provide significant value to government agencies.

Mark Lenzner, Executive Director ICT Procurement, NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation said, “the NSW Government is committed to putting the customer at the centre of everything we do. Telecommunications is a key enabler of better government services and we are pleased to approve Vertel as a supplier of SD-WAN to eligible buyers.

Tony Hudson, commercial director at Vertel, said, “Vertel has a strong reputation as a reliable provider of critical services to government agencies. Vertel’s SD-WAN service is engineered to be delivered as a managed service and specifically designed for large-scale government and enterprises, making it an ideal choice for NSW government agencies.

“Vertel’s proven Nuage Networks core service platform is used by some of the largest telcos in the world. For government this provides certainty in regard to the ongoing incorporation of a wide range of international user requirements and future functional enhancements. The Vertel SD-WAN service is deployed and operated within Australia meaning that operational data is under Vertel’s full control from the edge device to the core infrastructure supporting it ensuring the sovereignty and security of data. The SD-WAN service is multi-tenanted and highly scalable, meaning that government agencies can be assured that their individual networks are securely segmented from the other users whilst providing the flexibility, adaptability and scale required by government agencies as structural and other operational requirements change over time.

“This is an important extension of Vertel’s ongoing relationship with NSW Government.”

Sunil Khandekar, founder and CEO of Nuage Networks from Nokia, said, “Managed SD-WAN services are emerging as the preferred technology set for enterprises and governments around the world as they look to re-energise their wide area networks for business digital transformation. The announcement by the NSW Government to add SD-WAN managed services to its TPAs is an excellent way to future-proof its critical communications infrastructure. Nuage Networks from Nokia is pleased to support Vertel with its industry-leading SD-WAN platform and looks forward to working alongside the Vertel team to deliver the technology platform for government agencies deploying SD-WAN.”

About Vertel

Vertel is a wholly-owned, Australian national telecommunications carrier with over 40 years’ experience delivering critical network infrastructure and services to Enterprise, Government and Service Provider organisations. With a broad range of fixed and mobile network and Cloud services, underpinned by excellence in delivery and on-going operations, we specialise in serving customers with high availability, performance, management and security requirements for business, mission and life-critical operations. As the world’s first wireless carrier to achieve MEF certification for its Ethernet Layer 2 service, we can design, build and deliver carrier-grade connectivity and applications for organisations throughout Australia.