As part of its massive network integration effort and new UMTS rollout, Cingular has begun wrapping up all of its disparate backhaul pipes into a single transport network, funneling all TDM, ATM and IP traffic over a single platform, Cingular’s key backhaul technology provider revealed in an interview.

For the last six to nine months, the vendor has been upgrading some 130 Tellabs 5500 digital cross connects already built into the Cingular and former AT&T Wireless networks, installing its new Smart Integrated Access Device (SIAD) at cell sites and installing 40 of its 8800 multi-service router in the network cores of key UMTS markets. The result of that rollout has created a unified transport network in several major markets that combines the voice and data traffic from its UMTS/high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) and its workhorse GSM/Edge networks onto the same unified backhaul system, creating a transport cost saving of as much as 20% in those markets, said Mike O’Malley, global portfolio marketing manager for Tellabs.

Cingular’s eventual goal is an all IP network using a Release 5 switching architecture, but such a transition is still far off in the future and interim steps between them are needed, O’Malley said. The new SAID and optimized cross-connect architecture allows Cingular to aggregate its IP data traffic and GSM ATM traffic at the cellsite passing it along to the multi-service routers sitting in front of mobile switching center (MSC). The router adds layer 3 or network layer functionality, allowing for traffic prioritization and other advanced functions of the core network.

The only other option for a carrier would be to build IP and ATM networks in parallel, an expensive proposition that might delay the transition to IP routing even further. While the network can handle traffic from Cingular’s legacy TDMA networks, Tellabs did not say if that traffic would be included in the new architecture. Cingular plans to completely retire the TDMA network in 2008.

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