INDUSTRY

Equant has signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Equant will provide a fully-managed, IP-based communications solution to interconnect 84 Norwegian embassies and consulates across Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific and the Ministry's headquarters in Oslo. Satellite services ensure access to the Equant IP network at 13 remote sites in areas where terrestrial links are more difficult and expensive. For the past five years, the Ministry had a frame relay network from Equant, but decided that MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) technology would better meet its global requirements. After a public tender review of four qualified vendors, the Ministry selected Equant due to the most cost-effective solution and lowest operational and economical risks. The following reasons were also key to the decision: -- Global delivery and local support. A strong support organization capable of delivering true end-to-end management 24/7 at all local sites. -- State-of-the-art technology. The Equant IP VPN is a highly secure network offering the ability to prioritize traffic and optimize traffic costs for different applications running on the network. The Ministry has chosen Equant's IP VPN Platinum for all sites, which gives them the ability to run voice, data and video over the network as well as allocate bandwidth dynamically to the different applications. -- Comprehensive Service Level Agreement. This ensures a high quality of service as well as availability and reliability of the network. -- Fully integrated satellite solution. The fact that connections via satellite are seamlessly integrated with Equant IP VPN is a key differentiator in Equant's solution. Equant is also the only provider offering consistent service levels and local support by own staff even at all satellite-based sites. -- Equant's competencies and experience in global networking and implementation. Equant ensures customers have the right solution designed to add value to their business. We also help our customers with a smooth transition to the IP world and timely migration to the newest IP infrastructure. "Equant's offering was superior in several high-importance areas to the Ministry," said Deputy Director General Ove Mo of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Out of the four qualified candidates, not one could match Equant's technical solution, global coverage or ability to provide local support in all locations, even to remote sites. With the implementation of the new, advanced global infrastructure we will also have a path for running data, voice and video applications over one single high-performance network. At the same time, it is a necessary step for developing and rolling out key global projects, such as a new document management system and a fingerprint authentication system to validate passports." "We have been proud to serve the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the last five years and are very pleased with the agreement to continue the Ministry's developments in this new phase," said Philippe Koebel, senior vice president in Sales & Marketing, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Equant. "The new contract is an excellent example of our endeavors to meet the growing demands of multinational corporations and governmental organizations for fully integrated and customized solutions at a global scale." The migration to the new network is scheduled to be completed in Q1 2006.