TransNet 2013:Transport telecommunications networks in Russia

On March 13-14, Holiday Inn Moscow Suschevsky became the venue of ComNews Conferences’ 4^th International Conference “Transport telecommunication networks in Russia - TransNet Russia 2013”.

This year, a special participant to the event was Rostelecom, which has celebrated the 10^th anniversary of its Transit Europe-Asia (TEA) route.  The conference was sponsored by TTK, Infinera, Huawei Technologies, Ciena, InfoVista, Cisco, NTO IRE-Polus, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Interoute, and endorsed by the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and FTTH Council Europe. The event was also supported by JDSU, HAWE Telekom, Т8 and 2test.

Deputy Director of the department of infrastructure projects of Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media Evgeny Novikov opened TransNet 2013 by greeting the gathering and outlining the key challenges faced by the industry. “Russia has more than 30 localities with about 1 million of total population which have no fiber-optic lines”, Novikov emphasized. Deputy Carrier & Sales Director of Rostelecom OJSC Alexander Yakovenko shared the outlook for transit routes in Russia and the national transit business in general. Vitaly Shub, Adviser to the President of TTK, spoke about the opportunities for high-speed trans--Russian transport networks. The report of Alexander Teremetsky, Carrier Relations Director of MegaFon, covered integration of national and global networks as a strategy for developing transport networks in Russia. Also Olga Makarova, Director of Internet and channel resources Department, Carrier Business Development Unit, Corporate Center, MTS Group explored the topic of integration. Maxim Akinin, Regional Manager, Sales - Russia & CIS for Level 3, explained the role of global operator on the Russian backbone market, while Regional Director of Interoute in Russia and the CIS Elena Chernykh spoke about integration of global and national transit networks as a strategy for developing transport networks in Russia and Europe.

The second session of the Conference was dedicated to national backbone transport networks. Sergey Kiselev, Head of development projects at MSK-IX, told about the shift of priorities of providers of IP transit and carrier channels. Vitaly Glotov, Director of inter-provider cooperation Department at AKADO, shared a business case on intercity integration of IP networks run by one operator using several backbone networks of various market players. Vyacheslav Rodionov, Head of the department of communication systems at Federal Grid Company (FEES), gave a talk on the changes in the technological communication system in the power industry. Alexey Sapunov, Transport Network Director for VimpelCom, outlined the main growth drivers in converged transport networks and effective approaches to their implementation. Alexey Kipchatov, Marketing Director of RetnNet, came up with some pros and cons of switching to 100G for Russian backbone operators. Alexander Kurochkin, CEO of Smarts, told about the development strategy for backbone networks’ transport infrastructure in Russia.

After a break for lunch, the next session was dedicated to advanced backbone transport networks. Dmitry Shemyakin, Senior Systems Engineer at Infinera, delivered a report on business success and technical evolution of coherent super-channel technology. Managing Director of Ciena in Russia, CIS and Baltic States Sergey Fishkin spoke about operators’ opportunities for improving countrywide network connectivity.  Peter Eropkin, Regional Sales Manager in Russia and CIS for InfoVista, delivered a speech dedicated to transport network performance management in the IP era.  Mauro Macchi, Director of Product Marketing, HERO - OTBU Cisco, told about innovations in optics which open the door for new generation of transport networks. Alexey Blinov, Huawei Marketing Manager, outlined pathways towards 2 terabits. General Director of T8 Vladimir Treshikov shared the success story of how a Russian manufacturer of equipment for backbone networks came to establish two world records within six months.

The first day of the Conference was concluded by panel discussion “Key drivers in attracting and increasing traffic in the Transit Europe-Asia route” involving representatives of such companies as TeliaSonera International Carrier Russia, Ciena, Infinera, MSK-IX, MegaFon and MTS.

The second day of the Conference started with the session entitled “Developing backbone transport networks”. Sergey Khvesin, Experienced Solution Architect, Broadband & Convergence, Ericsson, told about Ericsson’s optical platform for networks. Przemysław Gągała, International Sales Director for HAWE Telekom, delivered a speech about new opportunities of Moscow – Frankfurt route running through Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Kazimir Voytkevich,CEO of Intertax, explained the difference between backbone networks and desacralization. Semen Kogan, Director of architectural solutions Department of Alcatel-Lucent in Russia and CIS told about evolution of terabit solutions for new generation optical transport networks. Phillipe Chapon, Manager for Optical Systems, JDSU, shared the principles and advantages of monitoring optical fibers in backbone and access networks. Technical director at 2Test Danila Gubankov warned market participants about the challenges they may face when 100G networks become a large-scale phenomenon.

The fifth session of TransNet was dedicated to access networks. Sergey Korolev, consultant at the Fixed department of Jason & Partners Consulting, outlined growth prospects for GPON technology in Russia and abroad. Andrey Zimin, Business Development Director for Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS) OJSC, told about the implementation of optical access networks based on GPON FTTH in Moscow. Ilya Astakhov, Network and Platform Business Development Director of Akado Telecom, told about the problems his company encounters when building a high-speed optical city network. Dmitry Patlatyuk, CEO of Omega Telecom, explored state-of-the-art access technologies and new user functionality.

The final session of the Conference explored Internet exchange points (IX) and inter-operator cooperation. Ivan Cheglakov, Deputy Director of MSK-IX, outlined the roadmap for IX in Russia, while Jubica Draskic, Regional Director CEE, Interoute, covered the strategies used by Russian operators for connecting to international traffic exchange points. The report delivered by Yaroslav Gorodetsy, General Director of CDNvideo, was dedicated to customer perception of IX in Moscow.

TransNet 2013 was wound up with panel discussion entitled “IX –development prospects and paths” which was participated by representatives of such companies, as RetnNet, MSK-IX, Intertax, Ngenix and Mail.ru.

The event was attended by about 300 delegates from Russia and abroad. Participants of TransNet 2013 complimented the high level of organization and amazing networking opportunities. Moreover, the audience could look into state-of-the-art solutions in transport networks showcased at a special exhibition.  The list of exhibitors included Infinera, InfoVista, Cisco, NTO IRE-Polus, Extreme Networks, KNET, PacketLight Networks, Xtera, Т8, 2test, and TRANSVOC CJSC.