Networking equipment vendor Ascend has agreed to supply core switching equipment to China Telecom for the construction of its nationwide multimedia backbone.
The multimedia backbone is part of an ambitious network being created by China Telecom to bring the most advanced voice and data services to mainland consumers.
Running alongside inter-provincial networks, the multimedia backbone will complement a broadband backbone based on Ascend's ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) frame relay technology and cover Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and 28 other cities.
The network relies on a combination of frame relay, ATM and IP (Internet Protocol) technologies and will be able to deliver high-speed multi-service capabilities on a single high-capacity platform.
The project puts the mainland on a par with similar undertakings elsewhere in Asia, such as Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor.
'Unlike in the US where the Internet grew totally organically, with a somewhat messy result, China has the opportunity to do it the right way from the start,' said Joe Roissier, Ascend Asia-Pacific marketing director.