en.Wedoany.com Reported - Thailand's telecom operator AIS, in collaboration with China's ZTE, has completed the first batch of service migration and automatic provisioning for its next-generation enterprise backbone network. The upgraded network will primarily support enterprise leased lines, cloud connectivity, and data center interconnection services. This project not only replaced core and edge routing equipment but also simultaneously adjusted the network architecture and operations system, enabling AIS to gradually migrate enterprise and government customers to the new IP backbone network without disrupting existing services.
As Thai enterprises accelerate their adoption of cloud computing, cross-regional networking, and data center services, the existing enterprise network must handle larger data traffic volumes and more complex service paths. Enterprise leased lines emphasize stability and isolation capabilities, cloud connectivity requires rapid access to different computing platforms, and data center interconnections demand sustained high bandwidth and low latency. If these services continue to rely on manual configuration and fixed paths, adding new customers or adjusting network resources often requires modifying parameters on each device individually, and service provisioning cycles are easily impacted by network expansion. The core of AIS's upgrade is to transform the backbone network from traditional device stacking and manual operations to an enterprise network platform with unified scheduling, automatic provisioning, and continuous scalability.
The project deployed ZTE's ZXR10 M6000-SE series routers at core nodes, edge nodes, and interconnection nodes. According to ZTE, different configurations provide forwarding capabilities of 3.6Tbps, 7.2Tbps, or 14.4Tbps per single slot, allowing AIS to select appropriate device capacity based on node location and service scale. The core layer aggregates enterprise traffic over a wide area, the edge layer connects enterprise customers and regional networks, and interconnection nodes handle data exchange between cloud platforms, data centers, and external networks. After the multi-level node upgrade, the network can gradually expand port and forwarding capacity as existing services grow, without frequently rebuilding the entire backbone system.
In terms of traffic scheduling, the new network introduces technologies such as SR-MPLS, Flex-Algo, and EVPN. SR-MPLS can plan data transmission paths based on service requirements, Flex-Algo enables differentiated path calculation rules for different services, and EVPN is used to establish more flexible virtual network connections across multiple nodes. Combining these capabilities, AIS can configure transmission paths and network resources separately for financial, cloud computing, and manufacturing customers, preventing high-priority services from competing with regular traffic on the same path, and reorganizing traffic during link anomalies or local device failures.
During this migration, AIS and ZTE completed the first batch of service switching while existing enterprise services continued to operate. Backbone network migration typically involves routing policy adjustments, service path verification, device interconnection, user data synchronization, and failure rollback preparation. Configuration errors could affect enterprise leased lines, cloud access, or data center connections. The project team completed the switching between old and new networks through phased deployment and service validation, maintaining continuous operation of existing services and establishing a foundation for subsequent migration of more customers and nodes.
The operations system was also a key part of this deployment. AIS adopted ZTE's ZENIC ONE R22 management platform to implement centralized orchestration, one-click provisioning, and full lifecycle visualization management for enterprise services. Configuration tasks that previously required network personnel to log into multiple devices individually can now be generated and deployed from a unified platform. The process from application and resource allocation to service activation for enterprise leased lines and cloud connections can also be continuously tracked. For operators with a large number of enterprise customers, automated operations not only reduce repetitive tasks but also minimize inconsistencies caused by manual configuration across different nodes, making network capacity, service status, and fault locations easier to identify.
After the upgrade, AIS's enterprise backbone network will continue to support private leased lines, cross-regional networking, cloud platform access, and data center connections for Thai enterprises. The next phase will shift from the initial service migration to connecting more nodes and customers, while also validating the network's scheduling capabilities under high traffic, cross-cloud connections, and long-term operation conditions. AIS and ZTE also plan to continue advancing cooperation in cloud-network convergence, high-quality IP networks, and 5G enterprise applications, further connecting the enterprise backbone network with campus networks, cloud resources, and mobile communication systems.
