Airborne Express Grows Worldwide Network With Infonet; Infonet Enables Carrier to Achieve Worldwide Delivery Goals.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 1997--Infonet Services Corp. Tuesday announced that Airborne Express, the third- largest and fastest-growing air express delivery carrier in America, has significantly expanded its X.25 network to better serve the carrier's worldwide distribution requirements.

The expansion reflects the growth of the network from an initial X.25 and three asynchronous dial-up users in Germany to 100 dial-up and 75 leased-line X.25 customers worldwide. Airborne is also looking into expanding its services to India, Africa and South America as global conditions warrant pursuing those opportunities.

Airborne Express, celebrating 50 years of service, is the only package-delivery company that owns its own airport. Airborne also differentiates itself from other air express services by catering exclusively to corporate customers, delivering packages to metropolitan sites and corporate and branch offices as well as customers' factories and distribution centers.

Airborne is also focused on establishing a reputation for applying appropriate technologies to address customer requirements for automation and electronic interchange.

Converting Sites to Frame Relay 

Domestically, Airborne is in the process of moving a number of applications off its legacy IBM mainframe, including accounting, sales-management and call-tracking systems -- and migrating these applications to HP 9000s.

Over the next three years, Airborne is also converting 500 sites currently running IBM controllers and LANs to frame relay. This involves putting a router at every site, mostly within the United States and on the East Coast, because of population density.

Airborne's international strategy differs from its domestic policy in that the company relies on local, in-country delivery companies for inbound business and then provides the out-country shipping itself.

In the process of adding 20 new call centers, Airborne quickly ascertained that frame relay could provide significant cost savings for the company. Management anticipated savings of about 15 percent to 20 percent overall -- and savings equal to 50 percent for higher- profile sites.

Expanding Service While Maintaining Reliability

Airborne chose Infonet's network initially because it recognized that the number of nodes Infonet offered throughout Europe provided a significant cost advantage to the company. From Airborne's perspective, the more sites that Infonet offered, the fewer dollars it had to spend. That rationale continues today.

Ken Palmieri is the data communications specialist responsible for the international, dial-up and T-1 networks. According to Palmieri, ``Cost and reliability are two main factors why we chose Infonet; they are exceptionally good at maintaining reliable networks.'' That is critical to a company that demands 99.5 percent access for each site -- and has consistently achieved that goal with Infonet's support.

``Formerly, Airborne used point-to-point leased lines,'' stated Palmieri. ``They worked reasonably well but did not provide any significant cost reductions for the company,'' he recalled.

With 75 agents (both freight and express) and 100 customers worldwide online to Infonet's global network, Airborne needs only to connect to the local nodes and splits the costs with its agents. According to Palmieri, ``Our communication is a win-win for everyone: Both our customers and agents can access and track shipments. We can then use Infonet's e-mail system to better enhance our service.''

Supporting a Global Delivery System

One of the unique services that Airborne also offers its corporate customers is the ability to fulfill orders and ship products from its warehouses. ``As more customers start warehousing products, we will need to grow our system further to accommodate access into new and existing warehouses,'' noted Palmieri. ``I'll probably need to expand my WAN further to accommodate that opportunity,'' he observed.

Airborne is also taking a closer look at using INFOLAN IP services for some of its major sites in Europe. The company offers a product, LIGHTSHIP TRACKER, that allows customers to track domestic and international shipments, provides proof of delivery and creates shipping reports.

Customers can also use asynchronous dial-up to connect to Airborne's mainframe. Quality standards at each station, a part of Airborne's QA standards, guarantee that customers know what is happening with packages at all times.

Infonet provides 24x7 support to Airborne employees, agents and customers worldwide. Airborne relies on Infonet's hands-on service and its interest in helping the company's customers. ``They go out of their way to trouble-shoot things that may not even be their problem,'' stated Palmieri.

Infonet's service, reliability and willingness to pass cost savings on to its customers are key reasons the company continues to use Infonet. Palmieri also feels that Infonet has been very proactive and forward-thinking in ascertaining what Airborne needs from a personnel standpoint.

``Infonet is a very hands-on company, willing to learn our business and cater to our needs,'' remarked Palmieri. ``They never speak negatively of the competition, they just show their strengths. That is very refreshing,'' he concluded.

Infonet Services is a world leader in providing multinational enterprises with reliable, state-of-the-art international communications solutions that deliver A Bridge to the Global Electronic Workplace. Infonet specializes in value-added services and managed networks, which are supported locally in 57 countries.

Infonet's World Network is currently accessible in more than 180 countries. Its Infonet Software Solutions business unit offers a full-time suite of productivity products and services for messaging, collaboration and electronic commerce applications. The company is jointly owned by a number of the world's leading telecom operators.

For more information, call Infonet in the United States at 310/335-4700 or visit Infonet or Infonet Software Solutions on the World Wide Web at www.infonet.com .

CONTACT: Infonet Services Corp., El Segundo

Mike Radice, 310/335-2876