Allergan Selects Infonet Services' Global Frame Relay to Connect Offices Worldwide; 36 Sites on Four Continents Installed in 90 Days.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1997--Infonet Services Corp. Tuesday announced that Allergan Inc., a technology-driven, global health care company, has selected Infonet's global frame relay services to connect its international offices with corporate headquarters in Irvine, Calif.

Because Allergan markets its products in more than 100 countries and manufactures products at major facilities in Ireland, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the United States, the network is expected to provide the global data communications infrastructure Allergan requires to effectively manage its operations.

The company selected Infonet's global frame relay network services which provide "point-to-point" connectivity among sites, using a single access link from each LAN to the wide area network. The service is based on state-of-the-art Nortel Passport switches and SNMP management of the client site routers provided by Infonet.

Global Frame Relay includes site-to-site provisioning, network design and configuration, ongoing network management and maintenance. Infonet's global frame relay also offers failure recovery services to ensure mission-critical sites are protected from network failures and customer site disasters such as fire, earthquake or other major physical disruptions.

Allergan, founded in 1948 and with headquarters in Irvine, is a technology-driven, global health care company focused on specialty pharmaceutical products for specific disease areas that deliver value to customers, satisfy unmet medical needs and improve patients' lives.

A Global Expansion Built On Standards

Allergan's current global expansion plans include a manufacturing plant in China and launching pharmaceutical products in India and Brazil.

To meet those needs, Jeff Winston, vice president, IS Technology and Operations, needed to streamline business processes, integrate companywide information into a single repository, and create greater operating efficiencies -- while running a centralized computing and networking environment that supports more than 6,000 employees across 40-plus offices.

Winston viewed the business as a global enterprise. "My charter is to focus on new and emerging technologies that will allow the company to derive maximum benefit and to then, implement them worldwide," Winston commented.

"I'm particularly interested in identifying standards-based solutions that encompass defining standards. I am, therefore, constantly looking for standards-based solutions that can be put to work to help Allergan's business," he stated.

The Allergan Information Services team is currently involved in a global, multiyear initiative consisting of rolling out SAP's R/3 software to the United States, then Europe, and pan-Asia in parallel with a manufacturing systems reengineering initiative based on SAP R/3.

Leveraging Technology

To support its business process goals worldwide, Allergan looked for a partner that could provide the quality of service the company demanded. Winston and his IS team went through an extensive RFP process, evaluating five global providers and ultimately selecting Infonet.

According to Winston, "We wanted a 'best of breed' provider for global frame relay -- one company that could manage the global network, end-to-end, provide both local and in-country presence and also install and maintain premise equipment at major Allergan sites."

Allergan clearly wanted a solid, quality service at a competitive cost. The company expected a service level that would be so high it would be transparent to the business processes that depended on the network.

Additionally, since Allergan preferred not to have network engineers or technical staff on site at each of its many offices, the company needed to rely on Infonet to develop a turnkey solution.

Allergan finalized its contract with Infonet in January 1997. The contract called for 14 initial installations to take place in April; these included sites from Western Europe and Canada to California.

The second phase included adding six additional sites in Western Europe in May; in phase three, which took place in June, four additional sites in the United States were added. Phase four consisted of adding seven sites in the Asia-Pacific region and phase five will bring five sites in Central and South America on-line.

Winston's staff expected and achieved a 90-day scenario; they have been pleased with the results. "We are already seeing dramatically improved reliability and availability of our network," stated Winston, "in addition to improved response times."

Service level agreements are in place, reliability is in excess of 99.5 percent and the technical team has found Infonet to be flexible and willing to customize solutions to meet Allergan's needs. "We are receiving excellent tech support, issues are dealt with in a timely manner and, for the first time, I feel I have found a partner truly interested in working together as a team," observed Winston.

As Allergan continues its global implementation of SAP, the frame relay network is taking on a more critical role, providing the foundation for its core business processes. Beyond SAP, Allergan is implementing a suite of groupware applications to include electronic messaging, calendaring, intranet applications and Internet access to all company locations as well as a document management system.

All of these applications must be available, across the network, to employees at major Allergan sites around the world. According to Winston, Infonet has proven itself and has provided the quality of service Allergan requires.

"What I like best is Infonet's focus on quality and customer service; the company has received very high marks," Winston noted. "We're obviously a happy customer and are looking forward to an ongoing business relationship over many years," he concluded.

Infonet Services is a world leader in providing multinational enterprises with reliable, state-of-the-art international communications solutions which 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 187 countries. Its Infonet Software Solutions business unit offers a full 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 310/335-2600, or visit Infonet or Infonet Software Solutions on the World Wide Web at www.infonet.com

CONTACT: Infonet Services Corp., El Segundo

Mike Radice, 310/335-2875