Cisco has announced that MegaFon, one of Russia’s leading telecommunications service providers, has installed the Cisco ASR 5000 mobile multimedia core platform in its Central Region mobile network. With the high performance and advanced intelligence of the Cisco ASR 5000, MegaFon will be able to serve more customers, more reliably, while delivering enhanced mobile services such as data and mobile video.

With the integrated network and subscriber intelligence capabilities of the Cisco ASR 5000, MegaFon, which serves some 56 million subscribers throughout Russia, will be able to develop and deliver advanced mobile services with high levels of customization and personalization. MegaFon customers will also enjoy maximum service reliability thanks to the ASR 5000’s integrated software and hardware redundancy.

The Cisco ASR 5000 was featured in Cisco’s recently announced MOVE (Monetization, Optimization, Videoscape Experience) strategy, designed to help mobile operators like MegaFon monetize their networks through new services and business models, while at the same time optimizing the delivery of those services, and as a result, deliver a differentiated, enhanced mobile video experience. 

The network upgrade was implemented by a joint team of specialists from MegaFon, Cisco and CPM, a Cisco Registered Partner in Russia.

Key Facts / Highlights
The Cisco ASR 5000 is a purpose-built mobile multimedia core platform featuring a high-performance distributed architecture, service assurance and subscriber awareness. The ASR 5000 uniquely combines high capacity, high availability and powerful performance with subscriber and network intelligence.
The access-independent Cisco ASR 5000 features high levels of
Performance, for high capacity, significant throughput and high transaction rates.
Flexibility, for integration and migration across a range of 2.5G, 3G and 4G/LTE mobile and wireless radio access networks.
Intelligence to allow a mobile operator to understand the details of each subscriber session, manage individual subscriber policies, and control network traffic flow.
Reliability, with hardware and software redundancy to maintain sessions in the event of any local or geographic failure.
Supporting Quotes:
Valentin Polozenko, chief technology officer, Central Branch, MegaFon, JSC:
"It would not be an overstatement to call the modernization of the packet core based on the Cisco ASR 5000 a unique project, because today MegaFon remains the only Russian company to deploy the above equipment. In 2010 in the Central Region, MegaFon integrated more than 3,000 kilometers of fiber-optical communication lines, predominantly core ones, and significantly expanded its network capacity. It is a new step in our way towards leadership in wireline and wireless broadband Internet services"

Andrey Borovkov, vice president:
"The project of Cisco hardware installation in MegaFon’s communications network in the Central Region became one of the most significant for our company in 2010, mainly because it is a result of long-term efforts aimed at promoting Ciscо solutions in the telecommunications markets of Russia and CIS. We are sure that the capabilities and performance of the new packet network core in the Central Region will help us to raise the quantity and quality of data services for MegaFon customers. And these results have already been noticed even at the stage of implementation"

Paul Betsis, general manager, Cisco Russia:
"This project was the latest milestone in our long business relationship with MegaFon, which also has deployed our leading CRS series in the network core and ASR 9000 in the network edge. We are proud that MegaFon chose our advanced mobile Internet solution for their mobile broadband network, and we look forward to working with them as they use the intelligence and performance of the platform to introduce a variety of new mobile multimedia services to the Russian market"