SYDNEY, December 11, 2003 - Soul Pattinson Telecommunications (SPT), a leading Australian service provider, has deployed an optical networking solution from Cisco Systems® to meet increasing customer demand for Internet Protocol (IP)-based telecommunications services.

By upgrading its core transmission network with the Cisco ONS 15454 SDH Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP), SPT can reduce its network operations costs, improve network manageability and expand its network more rapidly as demand for IP-based traffic increases.

SPT is a service provider supplying high-capacity data, dedicated virtual private networks, voice and video services to corporations, government agencies and other service providers across regional and metropolitan Australia.

The Cisco ONS 15454 SDH MSPP is a primary part of SPT's strategy to maximise its investment in its telecommunications infrastructure. The optical networking device allows SPT to improve:

• Service density—More services can now be delivered to customers over the existing telecommunications network.
• Service velocity—Accelerates the speed of provisioning new services to customers via point-and-click graphical interface management software, Cisco Transport Manager.
• Service variety—Supports a large range of customer interfaces, including time-division multiplexing (TDM) services (E1, E3, DS3), data (Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) optical (STM-1, STM-4, STM-16, STM-64) and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) multiple-wavelength optics.
• Cost management—Cost reduction technologies lower the cost per bit transmitted across the network.

SPT director of Engineering, Steve Legge, said; "The Cisco ONS 15454 platform has proven its worth as the combination of a Cisco IP plus Optical network gives us scalable bandwidth solutions and dramatically reduces our service provisioning times for our customers."

Cisco regional manager, Service Providers, Peter Papaioannou, said; "SPT has adopted an innovative approach in managing and utilising network technologies. As a valued Cisco Powered Network Program member, SPT has received support and equipment from Cisco for several years for its MPLS IP network. Now, SPT is the first Australian organisation to integrate optical and IP services over a traditional SDH network infrastructure, resulting in service cost reductions and new value for its business."

About SPT

SPT is Australian-owned, regionally based, and one of the most profitable telecommunications companies in Australia with the second-largest regional data access network for customer connectivity across Australia. SPT is also part of the WHSP group, one of Australia's oldest and most financially secure companies, which not only celebrates 100 years on the ASX in 2002, but is also one of the Top 100 listed companies in Australia on market capitalisation.

The SPT network is a high-capacity, high-speed, dedicated MPLS-based IP network that has been designed, built and is operated and maintained by SPT. The network is Australia's second-largest regional broadband access network, providing in excess of 180 points of interconnect (POI) and points of presence (POP) throughout Australia. For further information, contact SPT on 1300 13 34 64 or visit www.sptel.com.au.