The thesis presents the migration of a communication network from an outdated to an up-to-the-minute one. For Pošta Slovenije this was of utmost importance to keep the competitive edge of the company.
The upgrading process consisted of two stages. The modernisation was first begun in the access network, where the transition from the outdated Frame-Relay technology to MPLS was made. This was followed by the renewal of the backbone network, which included the replacement of network switches at three central hubs and a replacement of DWDM multiplexers with newer ones, which make better use of the existing optical fibres.
The upgrading has greatly benefited the company, which has (among other things) also reduced its operating costs (IP POS terminals, ATM machines, IP telephony, LOTO, etc. are now connected to its own network) and customers are offered new services (e-archiving, data centres, cloud computing, etc.).
The technologies which had the greatest impact in terms of increasing the capacity of data transfer are: MPLS, which by labelling parcels and without any unnecessary searches and decisions enables a much faster data transfer from the entry point to the exit point. Progress is also noticed in DWDM technology, which has multiplied its transfer capacities in comparison to the capacities before the upgrading. The new switches have also had an increased throughput, which was enhanced by new technologies, such as port channel and Pseudowire, etc.
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