LONDON, United Kingdom, November 10, 2004 - Cisco Systems® announced today that COLT Telecom Group plc is delivering its new pan-European managed Switched Ethernet VPN service built upon Cisco's multiservice optical transport platform. Launched by COLT today as part of its high-performance Ethernet service portfolio, the Switched Ethernet VPN service offers customers a high level of security and service flexibility with 'burstable' bandwidth features.
Cisco® worked with COLT to define the new virtual private network (VPN) service based on market research of Cisco's customer base. The research showed significant demand for a high-performance service in the 100 Mbps to 5 Gbps range with the ability to allocate additional network resources to accommodate peaks in data traffic. COLT's Switched Ethernet VPN service delivers any-to-any connectivity with high levels of security over dedicated fibre rings for applications requiring high-performance and low-latency links, such as real-time data back-up, offsite disaster recovery solutions and data centre consolidation.
"COLT is at the forefront of Ethernet technology developments and we intend to maintain our lead by continuous innovation," said Jean-Yves Charlier, CEO, COLT Telecom. "Cisco has been invaluable in providing technical expertise and marketing intelligence to help us create services that fully meet the needs of European enterprises."
"With the density of COLT's network coverage, it is well positioned to deliver a powerful value proposition to enterprises in Europe," said Rob Lloyd, President, Cisco Systems Europe Middle East and Africa. "COLT's Switched Ethernet VPN service gives European customers unparalleled price-performance and service-flexibility today. Wrap this up with COLT's award-winning reputation for customer service and support, and you have the potential of a truly 'market-shaping' service."
COLT's Switched Ethernet VPN service is deployed over Cisco technology utilizing Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Provisioning Platform and Cisco Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) technology, Cisco MDS 9000 series Multilayer Storage Area Network (SAN) switches and Cisco Catalyst switches. RPR is a recently approved Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) industry standard that helps service providers protect infrastructure investment by enabling them to carry converged voice, data and video traffic over existing Synchronous Optical Network/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH) fibre rings.
About COLT
COLT Telecom Group plc is a leading pan-European provider of business communications services and solutions. The company owns an integrated 20,000 kilometre network that directly connects approximately 10,000 buildings in 32 major cities in 13 countries augmented with a further 42 points of presence across Europe and 11 Internet Solution Centres. COLT supplies customers across the full spectrum of industry, service and government sectors with unrivalled end-to-end network security, reliability and service.
COLT Telecom Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (CTM.L) and NASDAQ (COLT). Information about COLT and its products and services can be found on the web at www.colt.net.
