Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST and ETERNUS Deployed By Méditel

Fujitsu today announced that Méditel, one of Morocco's leading mobile communications service providers, has selected Fujitsu to create a new ICT platform for the company's Next Generation Intelligent Network (NGIN) 3G system.

Méditel is using the Fujitsu technology - some 17 PRIMEQUEST mission-critical x86 servers, 40 PRIMERGY x86 servers and an ETERNUS storage system - as the foundations of its next-generation network technology, and to underpin its growth strategy.

The Moroccan telecommunications provider chose Fujitsu on the strength of its highly-reliable platform products, led by its PRIMEQUEST mission-critical servers based on mainframe heritage, combined with the company's solid services organization in Morocco and other locations around the world. The deal with Méditel demonstrates the strength of Fujitsu's platform products as an optimal infrastructure for deployment in ICT systems that demand the highest levels of reliability and scalability.

Méditel is Morocco's second-largest mobile telecommunications provider and provides service to over 10 million users. Morocco's mobile phone market continues to expand at an annual growth rate of 12%. Against this backdrop of rapid development, and in anticipation of further business expansion, Méditel recently upgraded the ICT platform and vastly increased its processing capacity to ensure that it can adequately accommodate the future launch of new services and extended system features.

The new NGIN system provides real-time unified management of data, including customer, call time, and call frequency information for Méditel's prepaid mobile phone service. In addition, the new system is being introduced to take over a comprehensive range of mobile telecommunications services. Méditel is also rolling out Next Generation Intelligent Network (NGIN) features and services including location-based services, carrier selection, number portability, advanced routing services and intelligent call center re-routing.

To deliver these NGIN features, Méditel needed a back-end ICT infrastructure capable of providing the reliability and real-time performance necessary for stable communications services, plus the high processing power to handle increases in traffic resulting from a growing customer base. By selecting Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST mission-critical x86 servers and ETERNUS storage systems, including a complete disaster recovery system installed platform and software features, Méditel has been able to significantly improve network and system performance, while at the same time reducing power consumption and ICT equipment space requirements.

The NGIN system was developed by PTInnovation, an ICT systems subsidiary of Portugal Telecom Group, Portugal's largest telecommunications provider. This system currently supports mobile phone services for more than 100 million mobile subscribers worldwide.

The Fujitsu Group provides worldwide support for the building and maintenance of ICT infrastructure for PTInnovation's NGIN systems. In the future, Fujitsu will continue contributing to customers' businesses through a collaborative alliance with PTInnovation by providing its PRIMEQUEST and other platform products to major communications providers throughout the world.

Manuel Garcia, Méditel CTO states: "It was Fujitsu's tremendous understanding of our business needs, and the high-performance technology on offer that persuaded us to partner with Fujitsu for this business-critical upgrade. This means that our mobile network is not only ready for next-generation services, but also stable and flexible enough to power our ambitious future growth plans."

PTInnovation Administrator Luis Beato adds: "Fujitsu is a long time partner of PTInnovation in mission-critical applications such as NGIN. They have experience in complex projects on major operators like TMN in Portugal, and have always demonstrated high levels of commitment, as well as a strong sense of responsibility and professionalism. In the future, we hope that Portugal Telecom and Fujitsu will continue their cooperation to offer better solutions and services to customers around the world."