BT 21CN
What is BT 21CN?
Between 2007 and 2011, BT will be managing the upgrade of its public switched telephone network (PSTN), ISDN and Broadband lines to its next generation network. 21 CN is an entirely new digital network that provides many services on one platform, replacing for example the existing separate PSTN and Broadband platforms.
The new network is designed to support BT’s future rollout of internet and TV services and other new digital services.
It will involve the migration of every end user, which represents approximately 30 million PSTN lines and around 8M Broadband lines.
BT have announced that the rollout programme will be prioritised by the Communications Providers, of which BT Retail is one of many providers wanting to offer new services to users, this is called a ‘voluntary upgrade’ and replaces the original exchange by exchange, geographical approach which the market has been working towards until now.
The key milestones are:
October 2008 – The ‘Pathfinder’ project in Cardiff which will affect 75,000 users in South Wales will be restarted, expected to begin in October 2008 it will end early in 2009
July 2009, any new voice and broadband packages (or any upgrades from voice to voice & broadband) will be provided on the 21CN network, and ‘voluntary upgrades’ will be programmed.
April 2010, the forced migration will begin of all lines to 21CN
As a result of this, it is Chubb Community Care recommendation that you should urgently complete the review of equipment at risk in your service user’s homes, to mitigate the potential losses in service should the change to 21CN take place earlier than might have originally been anticipated or indicated from previous information via the ‘switched-on’ website.”
21CN and Telecare Equipment
The potential impact of 21CN on Telecare equipment can be measured in several ways, firstly whether the equipment is unaffected and will continue to operate without risk on the new network, secondly, what impact will there be on the day of the changeover to both equipment in the service user’s home and in the monitoring centre, if any. Thirdly, where equipment can be made compatible with the new 21CN network but will require some action on the part of the service provider and/or equipment manufacturer to enable this and for operation to continue post migration, and finally where the equipment in use is not going to be compatible with the new network and where there is no scope for making it so.
In the case of equipment replacement this should be considered and planned for at the earliest opportunity. Chubb Community Care recommend you do not leave this to the “last minute” both for your own financial budgeting and planning purposes and because equipment manufacturers may not be in a position to supply and fit equipment to those leaving it to the “last minute”, where others have planned and scheduled equipment upgrades accordingly.
Manufacturers recommendations
Given the life critical nature of telecare equipment and services, any increased risk to the service user must be identified as quickly as possible.
Telecare equipment signals alarms through to the monitoring centre using one of a number of proprietary communication protocols, these protocols have evolved over time to meet the changing needs of the telephone network and the telecare service providers, however some of the older equipment uses protocols that were not designed to cope with the changes introduced by the 21CN network, and this may result in erratic or unreliable operation, and with the potential for failure as the network loading increases with the provision of new digital services.
21CN Compliance statement
Chubb Community Care has completed the testing of its current range of products, and has also completed testing of a wider range of legacy equipment where practical (i.e. for equipment that is no longer for sale and/or is obsolete). The testing was undertaken on the 21CN network emulator at their testing labs in BT Martlesham and also on their ‘live’ 21CN exchange installation at BT Swansea. All of the current range of Chubb Community Care products are fully compatable with, and ready to migrate to the new network.
As agreed by the Telecare Services Association (TSA)/BT supply sector working group, the testing performed by Chubb Community Care encompassed the following branded equipment Initial Community Care, Telefusion, Raitel, Shorrock Community Care, Wolsey, Attendo Systems Ltd & Cass.
The results of this testing have been published as a table, please click to here to see the results
Next Steps
We are strongly recommending to all of our customers that you review your asset register against the results of this testing and use this as the basis for your risk register as soon as possible.
At a minimum it is recommended that you record :
- Equipment brand,
- Equipment type,
- Monitoring centre,
- Communications protocol used,
- Approximate age of equipment,
- Maintaining organisation,
- Telephone number of equipment.
Please consult your regional sales manager if you need any assistance in gathering this information and to discuss the potential impact.
Our service team can assist you in compiling a 21CN equipment audit, please contact our helpdesk on 01254 688548 for further details.
BS7369 and the revised Common Protocol
The following statement has been released by Telecare Services Association and it’s Supply Sector technical committee to clarify the situation regarding the introduction of the 21CN telephone system.
Members of the Supply Sector have been preparing for the introduction of the 21CN system by testing their existing equipment. Tests have revealed that equipment that relies on the existing BS7369 protocol may not deliver a robust performance during heavy load/traffic conditions on the new network. Members of the Supply Sector technical working group have been addressing this issue and have now designed a protocol specifically to work with 21CN.
Chubb Community Care is commited to implementing and supporting the new protocol, along with the majority of the supply sector The new protocol BS8521 features enhancements designed to meet the expected growth in Telecare provision in the coming decades and is currently with BSI for consideration.
Further information.
The new enhanced BS8521 protocol has been specifically designed for the new 21CN.
The new protocol is open to the industry and the enhancements are designed to allow greater flexibility as the Telecare market expands.
The format of the new protocol has been agreed, software implementation is complete and interoperability testing has been performed at BT laboratories on the 21CN simulator
The following links give further information –
Some Questions and Answers can be found on the TSA website http://www.asap-uk.org/information/42304/46704/bt21cn/
General information about 21CN can be found at: http://www.btplc.com/21cn
Information about 21CN and migration can be found at: http://www.switchedonuk.org
BT Supplier Information Notes (SINs) can be found at: http://www.sinet.bt.com
The UK Transmission Plan can be found at: http://www.nicc.org.uk