A telephone exchange on wheels

Mobile Exchange on Wheels to bolster telecommunications in disaster areas

The need for communications during times of disaster is often incredibly important. In particular, internet services are especially vulnerable to destruction in the face of fires, floods and other natural disasters. Disrupted internet services could routinely take weeks or longer to fix in the past. Now, thanks to a new Telstra initiative, ADSL and other fixed line services will be able to remain connected, even after disaster has struck the local exchange.
MEOW - the portable ADSL2+ backup solution
The mobile exchange on wheels or MEOW, as it is creatively known - might look like an ordinary trailer from the outside, but inside - it's a fully functioning telephone exchange. The three-tonne unit can be easily pulled behind a 4WD or light truck and into critical areas of need without delay.
Speaking with David Piltz, who is the Executive Director of Integrated Network Planning for Telstra, the portable exchange can be operated by just two technicians, both of whom are in charge of activating and setting up the device.

The heavy-use trailer is DC powered, has its own air con system to cool the equipment and comes with an additional power generator for longer periods off-site.
The MEOW can provide up to 450 fixed line telephone services and over 300 ADSL2+ broadband services, at speeds of up to 20Mbps. Mr Piltz told us that they can usually get ADSL services back on the air within hours of the trailer's deployment. When not in use, the MEOW is always ready for duty. It's parked in 'hot standby mode', where it remains connected to the network at Telstra's Croyden offices in Melbourne. There, it can be deployed within 30mins of a disaster occuring. By comparison, when a physical exchange is badly damaged during a disaster, it can take up to a week to deploy spare equipment and have fixed line services running again from the area. However, the MEOW manages to plug that vital reconstruction delay gap by getting the job done in a few hours.

The mobile exchange, which is valued at more than $200,000 - is a country first. Telstra spokesperson Martin Barr told us that the idea came to engineers out of the recent black Saturday fires tragedy that struck Victorian towns earlier this year.