BellSouth Expands Focus of Data Portfolio; Charts Path to Future Data Growth.Business Editors/High Tech Writers SUPERCOMM 2002 ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2002 Launch of Three-Phase Strategy Brings Leading-Edge Data Solutions to Business; Introduces Network VPN (Virtual Private Network) A private network that is configured within a public network (a carrier's network or the Internet) in order to take advantage of the economies of scale and management facilities of large networks. ; Enhances IP, Managed Security and Hosting Solutions BellSouth (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : BLS See Bureau of Labor Statistics. ) today announced a comprehensive, three-phase strategy aimed at businesses seeking secure and reliable data solutions. BellSouth, already a $4.2 billion data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. provider, continues to focus its considerable data expertise at delivering best-of-breed data solutions in the one market - metropolitan (or local) data networking - that is still growing, even in today's recoiling economy. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a study published by Infonetics Research in February, the metropolitan data space is one of the few remaining hotspots in today's economic downturn, and one that will continue to grow through 2006. This is occurring, the study reports, as businesses demand more bandwidth and services in connecting their sites to backbone networks and between locations. Phase II of BellSouth's data strategy is already moving across some LATA boundaries and state lines to provide solutions to businesses with multiple locations across the BellSouth nine-state region. With the FCC's approval last month, giving BellSouth permission to provide long distance services in Georgia and Louisiana, Phase II began - extending BellSouth's dependable data solutions to region-based business customers. Phase III Noun 1. phase III - a large clinical trial of a treatment or drug that in phase I and phase II has been shown to be efficacious with tolerable side effects; after successful conclusion of these clinical trials it will receive formal approval from the FDA will further expand the benefits of BellSouth's data expertise to businesses nationally. Next Steps: Net-Based IP VPN Provides Baseline for Future BellSouth Data Growth Just like a quality home must be built upon a solid foundation and with proven construction techniques, BellSouth's data portfolio is built upon the company's reliable network infrastructure and industry-leading customer service. Likewise, BellSouth has for over a decade invested in sound communications technologies like optical, IP networking, DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary broadband and other core data capabilities. In recent years, BellSouth's "e-Platform" initiative has leveraged this foundation by adding hosting, security, storage, voice and wireless enablement, and other customer-driven applications to its data solutions set. "Our approach to providing data solutions for business has always been and continues to be one based on customer needs, what we call `building from the customer back'," said Mark Kaish, vice president of data services at BellSouth. "As a result, we've developed a `portfolio approach' that gives businesses not only flexible transport services The collective functions of layers 1 through 4 of the OSI model. , but also the applications and real-world business solutions that help them succeed in today's e-business-centric economy; all built upon BellSouth's historical strengths in network reliability, customer service and support, and an innovative approach to technology investment." BellSouth continues this focus by today announcing plans to trial and launch a fully managed, network-based IP-VPN solution as part of its data strategy. This data solution will ultimately enable businesses to use BellSouth's secure and reliable network to extend data communications to remote workers and locations, partner companies and customers. With BellSouth Network IP-VPN service, companies will be able to leverage the capabilities of a large, shared IP infrastructure while maintaining the "look and feel" of a private network. "The key advantages of network-based IP-VPNs touch on the core operational issues that are top-of-mind with most companies today... capital expenditures, security, ease of management and increased productivity," noted Kaish. "In addition to delivering a superior technology over BellSouth's IP core, Network IP-VPN will allow businesses to choose the broadband connectivity that is ideal for applications being deployed at varying locations, thus simplifying data networking requirements. It will also decrease the up-front investments in equipment and the expense associated with additional IT personnel needed to manage and monitor the network, giving businesses the ability to integrate stable transport services with new application solutions." Because IP technologies dominate customer data traffic and applications today, businesses need a network that supports them. BellSouth will complete its IP backbone network by the end of 2002, while beginning network-based IP-VPN trials next quarter in industry segments including education, healthcare and transportation. BellSouth plans to make the service available to customers throughout its region by year's end. As such, the company will become the first regional carrier to offer comprehensive MPLS-based Network IP-VPN services, allowing businesses to expand remote access to intranets and extranets, thus enabling them to converge disparate network access technologies such as DSL, Frame Relay A high-speed packet switching protocol used in wide area networks (WANs). Providing a granular service of up to DS3 speed (45 Mbps), it has become popular for LAN to LAN connections across remote distances, and services are offered by most major carriers. , GigE or Private Line on BellSouth's IP network. IP, Security and Hosting Solutions Bring Flexibility to Wide Range of Businesses BellSouth is today also introducing a series of new data services and solutions designed to address a variety of business requirements. Built upon the company's core foundation of customer services and support, network infrastructure, equipment and e-business centers, the new services align with BellSouth's optical, IP, broadband and core data technologies, extending these new, cost-effective applications to a wider audience of business customers, including small and mid-sized companies. The new services include: BellSouth(R) Basic Dedicated Web Hosting Making a Web site available on the Internet. Many ISPs host a few personal Web pages for an individual at no additional cost above the monthly service fee, but the address is subordinate to the ISP; for example, www.friendlyisp.com/pat_smith. - BellSouth Basic Dedicated Web Hosting, with its dedicated customer server, managed 24x7 monitoring and maintenance and robust network bandwidth, extends BellSouth's existing hosting services to include an ideal solution for businesses seeking an economical and secure managed Web presence. The hosting service eliminates the hassles and overhead associated with setting up and managing a Web hosting infrastructure, including server and operating systems Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap. by individual companies, and provides a secure environment for businesses' hosting hardware and content. BellSouth and IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) jointly developed the offering, which features IBM eServer This article is about the IBM family of computer servers. For the open access electronic text archive, see EServer.org. IBM eServer was a family of computer servers from IBM Corporation. (a) xSeries(b) 330 servers running the Microsoft(R) Windows 2000 operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. as the standard platform. Pricing starts at less than $1,000 per month. BellSouth Server Clustering See clustering. - a high availability Also called "RAS" (reliability, availability, serviceability) or "fault resilient," it refers to a multiprocessing system that can quickly recover from a failure. There may be a minute or two of downtime while one system switches over to another, but processing will continue. service option for BellSouth Managed Dedicated and Premium Co-location hosting customers. The service allows multiple servers to redundantly connect to multiple storage devices, ensuring customers' data is highly available and reducing system and application downtime. BellSouth Global Load Balancing The fine tuning of a computer system, network or disk subsystem in order to more evenly distribute the data and/or processing across available resources. For example, in clustering, load balancing might distribute the incoming transactions evenly to all servers, or it might redirect them - optimizes traffic between customer servers in multiple locations, enhancing the reliability and performance for enterprises hosting e-commerce or mission critical applications. This service is ideal for large businesses with mission critical data who want to keep servers in multiple locations and want the assurance of data availability Refers to the degree to which data can be instantly accessed. The term is mostly associated with service levels that are set up either by the internal IT organization or that may be guaranteed by a third party datacenter or storage provider. and integrity. Global Load Balancing is a valuable supplement to BellSouth's current hosting services, which include Managed Dedicated Web Hosting, as well as Basic and Premium Co-location. BellSouth(R) Managed Services An umbrella term for third-party monitoring and maintaining of computers, networks and software. The actual equipment may be inhouse or at the third-party's facilities, but the "managed" implies an ongoing effort; for example, making sure the equipment is running at a certain quality for VoIP - will provide a full suite of network management services for customers using Cisco AVVID AVVID Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (Cisco) AVVID Architecture for Voice Video and Integrated Data IP telephony The two-way transmission of voice over a packet-switched IP network, which is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. The terms "IP telephony" and "voice over IP" (VoIP) are synonymous. equipment (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data), including fault management, performance reporting and configuration. BellSouth is extending its support of Cisco AVVID IP telephony solutions by offering BellSouth Managed Services for VoIP, a service that provides proactive equipment and network management of Cisco AVVID solutions, to further provide a winning combination of network, equipment and professional services (job) professional services - A department of a supplier providing consultancy and programming manpower for the supplier's products. to enterprise customers seeking integrated solutions. Enterprises benefit from reduced network and operational costs and increased productivity and scalability by outsourcing IP telephony management to an industry-leading communications provider. BellSouth(R) Managed Firewall - Small Office - a customized solution specifically designed to meet the needs of small businesses seeking to minimize Internet security ''This article or section is being rewritten at Internet security is the process of protecting data and privacy of devices connected to internet from information robbery, hacking, malware infection and unwanted software. risks and limit unauthorized access to networks and proprietary data. The low-cost service allows customers to leverage professional security engineers for the configuration, installation and ongoing administration of firewalls deployed at the customer premise. Managed Firewall - Small Office is specially designed to work with BellSouth FastAccess Business DSL and BellSouth Dedicated Internet Access services. BellSouth(R) Managed Site VPN - a CPE-based VPN service that expands BellSouth's existing Managed Security Services portfolio to provide small- and medium-sized businesses with multiple locations a cost-effective way to extend network connectivity out to remote sites over the Internet. It is a fully managed solution that incorporates the latest in virtual private networking to provide secure, end-to-end communications and is specially designed to work seamlessly with BellSouth's Managed Firewall, BellSouth Dedicated Internet Access and FastAccess Business DSL Services. About BellSouth Data Growth BellSouth has maintained a compounded growth rate of some 29 percent in data services revenue from 1995 to 2001; and is on a current growth path that will take the company to $4.8 billion in data revenue by year's end. These impressive data growth numbers have been accomplished through disciplined investments in optical, IP and broadband technologies, including SONET, IP/MPLS IP/MPLS Internet Protocol/Multi-Protocol Label Switching , MSPP (MultiService Provisioning Platform) A high-end Cisco router that supports TDM circuits, packets and optical connections at the edge of the network. See MSSP and MSTP. , ADSL See DSL. ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and Gigabit Ethernet; along with prudent services investments in e-business data centers, security and storage capabilities, and voice and wireless enablement solutions. Combining these product and services portfolios gives BellSouth a competitive advantage in providing secure, reliable data solutions for today's business challenges. About BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, serving nearly 45 million customers in the United States and 14 other countries. Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full array of broadband data and e-commerce solutions to business customers, including Web hosting and other Internet services. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and other services. BellSouth offers long distance service for both business and consumer customers in Georgia and Louisiana. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services, including BellSouth(R) Real Pages(SM).com. BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company, which provides innovative wireless data and voice services. Editor's Note: Fact sheets providing complete details regarding new data services and solutions launched by BellSouth today at SuperComm and referenced in this press release are available at http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/factsheets/. (a)The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the descriptive term "server" following it. (b)IBM, the e-business logo and xSeries are trademarks of IBM Corporation. |
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