NLB 1Gbps Resilience Lines

Tender description

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) requires an experienced supplier to provide a second line to add resilience to our existing BTNet 1Gbps line and configure as a load balancing service, under CCS Framework RM3808i. This line requires to comply with the UK electronic communications regulatory framework. The line needs to be 1Gbps port speed on a 1Gbps bearer, the same as our current line. Both lines must be configured to work as active/active failover with the traffic and failover managed by the provider. Our Internet traffic will use both lines simultaneously to ensure seamless failover in the event of line failure. The second line, when paired with our existing line, must also be managed in-life as a resilient pair. This means using different fibre cables in separate ducts diversly routed to a different BT exchange throughout the lifetime of the lines. Any failover needs to be instant, seamless, must use our current IP addresses and be fully managed by the line provider. This load balancing will provide us with two active links for simultaneous use in normal operational circumstances as an active/active configuration, with the added ability to provide resilience if one link fails. The supplier will manage the load balancing in the event of a failure. The supplier needs to determine which Point of Presence (POP) is used by our current line and route the new line to a different POP.