The culmination of BT's 21st Century Network programme (21CN) could prove to be one of the best pieces of news for businesses this century, according to InTechnology. In essence, it brings the benefits of high bandwidth Ethernet networks to help Liverpool's business community, to simultaneously improve business performance and save money.

This has been made possible following a five year agreement under which BT will provide InTechnology with high-bandwidth voice and data services, delivered over 21CN. The main component of the deal is to provide the company with BT's Wholesale Ethernet service. By selecting BT's next-generation service, InTechnology can take advantage of BT's national reach and economies of scale and deliver high-bandwidth Ethernet services to a wider footprint of UK corporate customers, whilst at the same time realising cost savings of up to 40% for its customers.

Pay as you go/grow

Giving a massive boost to customer choice and control, 21CN is the platform that will introduce a range of next generation services, customised through InTechnology's innovative ‘Managed Services Grid.' Market uncertainty can make long-term strategic IT planning problematic, but this grid provides customers with services on a pay-as-you go, on demand basis allowing IT departments greater flexibility and offering huge cost savings.

Peter Wilkinson, InTechnology's Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: "We regard BT's 21CN programme as being two years ahead of anything else in the market with many new exciting and innovative features. By linking our existing network into BT's 21CN, InTechnology can now immediately service 87% of the main metropolitan areas of the UK. Most importantly in these difficult economic times we are in a unique position to bring huge costs savings and efficiencies to any business running a network."

Brian Fitzpatrick, MD, BT Wholesale Markets, said: "This deal with InTechnology marks one of the first major agreements to deliver a suite of next generation products for both data and voice. BT Wholesale is ushering in a new era for business IT services, allowing businesses to use IT and communications better, faster, and more cost effectively, with greater choice and flexibility than ever before. By partnering with BT, InTechnology is ahead of the curve in bringing these benefits to customers right now."

Roll out to 87% of businesses by April 2009

With many PoPs already in place, the deal with BT will allow InTechnology to significantly extend the reach of its existing Ethernet coverage in the UK, rising to 600 nodes by Spring 2009 - the largest geographical footprint in the UK for Wholesale Ethernet. This will bring high-speed data services, together with the cost efficiencies of BT's 21CN platform, to 87% of UK businesses.

Advantages of 21CN from InTechnology

  • Speed to market - no-one will provide this bigger, better, faster service sooner
  • End-user experience - completely consistent coverage from any location
  • Costs transformation - more for your money and total cost control - InTechnology estimate costs savings of between 25% - 40%
  • Complete control - it is the user who drives the application
  • Managed network - security protection and maintenance all managed from a central point
  • Robust infrastructure on tap - no need to invest in your own
  • Converged services - with voice and data all accessed across one network
  • Better by agreement - service levels agreed from day one, with 24/7 support
  • More services - available ‘on tap' anywhere in the UK once you are on the network
  • Frees your IT team - to think more about business issues

The ability to increase or decrease usage of services at any time provides fantastic operational flexibility, free of financial risk. It means short-term projects or new sites can easily be accommodated, with no upfront capital expenditure. Business development projects and ideas can also be tested, without incurring any of the normal upfront costs and associated business risks.

For more information visit www.intechnology.co.uk