Ascom Timeplex equips Retired Persons Services with $1 million SYNCHRONY network; Network solution enables RPS to drastically reduce T-1s and speed transaction time for dramatic $1.2 million cost savings.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 5, 1996--Donovan Resh, RPS senior vice president and CIO, had a goal to put a WAN platform in place to provide the company with the best of today's technology while positioning it for the next century.

"After a lot of research and countless vendor meetings, we've found the perfect partner in Ascom Timeplex," Resh commented. "They are helping us reduce our costs while we are offering more efficient service and lower rates to our customers," he continued. Ascom Timeplex has just completed the $1 million installation of SYNCHRONY ST-1000, ST-20s and Access Routers for the leased line network of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Retired Persons Services Inc. (RPS).

Founded in 1959, RPS provides cost-effective mail order pharmaceutical services for senior citizen members of AARP. With annual sales of over $500 million, the organization serves over two million customers and fills over 40,000 prescriptions a day. The number of prescriptions filled is expected to rise to 76,000 per day by the end of 1996.

RPS first approached Ascom Timeplex in September 1995 to assist the not-for-profit organization to consolidate its headquarters and eight regional pharmacies, which receive over 10 million in-bound calls per year, into one centralized center in Roanoke, Virginia. Within two months of signing the contract, Ascom Timeplex ordered, staged and implemented the entire network.

Ascom Timeplex provided RPS with staging services at its Florida technical support facility, allowing RPS personnel to view the network in operation. The wide area network solution from Ascom Timeplex reduces network set-up times by 13 seconds per call by eliminating the need for take-back-and-transfer functionality and providing an annual savings of $500,000.

Installation and cutover of the thirteen network nodes was completed on Feb. 23, 1996. Equipment includes one SYNCHRONY ST-1000 and nine SYNCHRONY ST-20 nodes, as well as SYNCHRONY AR-150 stand-alone access routers.

The SYNCHRONY ST-1000 and ST-20 hybrid frame and circuit switches offer full multiprotocol routing, voice compression and switching that merge voice, video and data over a single network infrastructure. The SYNCHRONY product line provides bandwidth efficiency and ensures that business-critical applications receive guaranteed quality of service.

"Ascom Timeplex's EXPRESS SWITCHING technology gives us the ability to allocate bandwidth to voice, video and data requirements and provide us with more control over the network than we've ever had before and allows us to more fully utilize all of the T-1s," notes Resh. "I've never seen anything like it," he commented.

The SYNCHRONY nodes and router implementation allowed RPS to eliminate 28 T-1s from its existing network infrastructure for a further annual savings of $200,000. Other operational enhancements provide an additional $500,000 in annual savings. Total first year savings allow the company to recoup its investment in 10 months.

"In conjunction with MCI, we were able to optimize the network's overall efficiency," states Bob Williams, Ascom Timeplex Account Executive.

The new SYNCHRONY network allows RPS to centralize its databases and consolidate its call centers. All in-bound calls will now be received at the Roanoke call center. Utilizing automation, the call center will process the prescriptions and route the orders to the appropriate fulfillment centers located across the country.

The consolidation of the databases provides many advantages over the decentralized system that was in place prior to the installation of the SYNCHRONY ST nodes. Namely, it gives RPS total control over all transactions, allowing the organization to easily move customer profiles and institute a load leveling program so that all calls are quickly routed to the next available agent. Secondly, the Ascom Timeplex equipment provides higher throughput.

"Building partnerships is an integral part of RPS's business philosophy," concludes Resh. "Any time you share ideas, success is inevitable. With Ascom Timeplex, we have discovered a wonderful business partner."

ABOUT ASCOM TIMEPLEX

Ascom Timeplex is a recognized leader in enterprise networking systems solutions for the past twenty-five years. The company helps organizations manage business-critical voice, data and video traffic by providing solutions built on innovative network development, implementation and support services.

Headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, Ascom Timeplex offers global services and support for all its products in 70 countries on seven continents to a base of over 4,000 customers. Ascom Timeplex is an operating division of Ascom Enterprise Networks, a core business unit of Ascom Holding AG, Bern, Switzerland, an international telecommunications company whose shares are traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange.

SYNCHRONY and EXPRESS SWITCHING are trademarks of Ascom Timeplex Trading AG.

Additional company and product information can be found on Ascom Timeplex's home page: http://www.timeplex.com

CONTACT: Ascom Timeplex

Pat J. Rohme, 201/573-6467

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