BellSouth Launches `E-Platform' for Business; New E-Biz Centers to Unleash Power of Extensive, Fiber-based Network.Business Editors NetWorld Interop Atlanta 2000 ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2000 -- Qwest, Sun Align with BellSouth to Capture Exploding E-Marketplace -- BellSouth (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : BLS See Bureau of Labor Statistics. ) today introduced its "e-Platform" for business, harnessing the power of its extensive fiber-based network to deliver the speed, reliability and security required for today's mission critical e-business applications. The initiative, supported by newly opened BellSouth e-Business Centers in Atlanta and Miami, will leverage the company's existing network-based infrastructure and support capabilities as part of a distributed e-business platform strategy. BellSouth's e-Platform will provide a variety of e-business services, including dedicated and custom hosting solutions, managed storage, managed security, content distribution, caching services, disaster recovery and Application Service Provider (ASP) services. The result will be a highly reliable and scalable e-business platform that brings the advantages of a world-class network, enabled for e-business. BellSouth will be using solutions from Qwest Communications
BellSouth is defining new standards of performance and reliability associated with the Internet and Internet-enabled services. BellSouth's e-Platform provides unique "bunker-like" security and reliability against potential natural and man-made disasters man-made disaster Technological disaster Public health An event in which a significant number of people are injured or die as a result of human devices or activities, unrelated to conflicts, and attributed to operator error–eg, Exxon Valdez because BellSouth utilizes "battle-tested," existing facilities that have weathered hurricanes like Hugo, Andrew and Floyd. BellSouth is also building upon some three million miles of fiber optic cable Noun 1. fiber optic cable - a cable made of optical fibers that can transmit large amounts of information at the speed of light fibre optic cable transmission line, cable, line - a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power , 1,650 central offices, 50 BellSouth Managed Facilities, 15,000 Sonet rings The architecture used in SONET technology. SONET rings, known as "self-healing rings," use two or more transmission paths between network nodes, which are typically digital cross-connects (DCSs) or add/drop multiplexers (ADMs). and over 500 fast-packet switches with its e-Platform initiative. Business customers get the advantage of reduced latency, better performance, continuous availability, improved caching, greater bandwidth and speed, and closer proximity to their end-users. "Our business customers are excited about capitalizing on today's Internet-enabled economy, but they have serious misgivings about the risks," said Dick Anderson
Richard Paul Anderson (born February 10, 1946 in Midland, Michigan) is a former American Football defensive back for the American Football League's and NFL's Miami , BellSouth's president of Customer Markets. "With BellSouth's e-Platform for business, they rest easy at night, knowing their data and business applications are protected by the same reliable infrastructure that provides them with dial tone every morning." The new BellSouth e-Business Centers will host a broad spectrum of application services See ASP and Web services. in secure locations, extending BellSouth's existing network capabilities and historical strengths in service reliability, real-time availability and customer service to support today's growing web-based economy. The first two Centers, each about 100,000 square feet and operational in Atlanta and Miami, are already home to at least a dozen new businesses, including HispanB2B.com, Willow, Omega Networks An Omega Network is a network configuration often used in parallel computing architectures. It is an indirect topology that relies on the perfect Shuffle interconnection algorithm. , and Advanced Data Center. An additional four BellSouth e-Business Centers are planned to open in the next 12-24 months. And, because BellSouth is developing the Centers using existing "hardened" data center facilities, the company can bring new Centers online in half the time of its competitors. "BellSouth is providing a world-class e-business infrastructure that's reliable and flexible, allowing customers to focus on their business results instead of managing their business processes, " Anderson said. World-Class Strategic Partners Create Robust Environment for E-based Solutions BellSouth is leveraging its existing relationship with Qwest to extend its network reach across the U.S. and to international locations. The BellSouth e-Business Centers are built in accordance with specifications that enable business customers to gain direct, high-speed access to the Internet and connect to Qwest's global broadband Internet See broadband. network and CyberCenter(sm) facilities. Under the relationship, Qwest also receives an option to use up to 25,000 square feet in each BellSouth e-Business Center to provide customers with basic, complex and custom 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. and managed applications services. "Teaming with BellSouth enables Qwest to extend our own CyberCenter network into the Southeast so we can better serve our worldwide customer base," said Steve Jacobsen, Qwest's Executive Vice President of Global Business Markets. "Businesses today are moving fast, so they can't afford to let their e-commerce, corporate intranets/extranets and other broadband applications and services be hosted anywhere other than at a fully-managed, secure, high-performance location." The BellSouth e-Business Centers will also include hardware, software and professional services (job) professional services - A department of a supplier providing consultancy and programming manpower for the supplier's products. from Sun, as part of multi-year agreements valued at $450 million between the two companies. Services offered through the BellSouth e-Business Centers will be "SunTone-certified" for quality and delivery. Sun will recommend BellSouth for Web hosting and network services in the Southeastern U.S. In addition, BellSouth will select Sun as its preferred vendor for UNIX-based solutions. "Years ago, Sun started telling the world that 'The Network is the Computer,' and a lot of people thought we were crazy," noted Ed Zander zan·der n. pl. zander or zan·ders A common European pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca) valued as a food fish. [German, from Low German Sander , president and COO of partner company Sun Microsystems. "But companies like BellSouth understood what we were talking about. They've been providing network-based services - in the form of dial tone - for years. "Now the market has matured to the point where businesses are ready for applications and services to be delivered by a service provider rather than managed and maintained in-house. We believe BellSouth is in a great position to become one of the leading service providers by leveraging its network expertise, its people and its partners' capabilities." New Distribution Partners to Drive Business to BellSouth e-Platform BellSouth also announced today several distribution partners to open new sales channels, and enable new and existing business partners to leverage the BellSouth e-Platform for their customers. The results will be expanded market coverage and increased revenues for BellSouth and its business partners, and expanded solution alternatives for customers. The first partners to participate in this innovative channel initiative include: iXL, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and Advanced Data Center. Programs have been established that will allow these business partners to resell BellSouth e-Business Center services, exchange sales leads, and team with BellSouth to jointly pursue sales opportunities. BellSouth expects to add other system integrators and ASPs over the coming months as part of an aggressive campaign establishing BellSouth as the preferred platform for e-business. Today's announcement is the latest in a series of innovative alliances between BellSouth and leading Internet and e-commerce companies. Over the past year, BellSouth has announced ventures with e-commerce leader Commerce One; an alliance with Internet e-commerce company CMGI's MyWay.com; and a relationship with 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. Systems (ISS ISS See Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). ) for managed security solutions. About Qwest Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) is a leader in reliable, scalable and secure broadband Internet-based data, voice and image communications for businesses and consumers. The Qwest Macro Capacity(R) Fiber Network, designed with the newest optical networking Communications between computers, telephones and other electronic devices using light. An optical network is far more reliable and has far greater potential transmission capacity than networking in the electrical domain. See optical fiber. equipment for speed and efficiency, spans more than 104,000 miles globally. For more information, please visit the Qwest web site at www.qwest.com About Sun Microsystems, Inc. Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - The Network is The Computer(TM) -has propelled Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW SUNW Sun Microsystems, Inc (former stock symbol; now JAVA) SUNW Stanford University Network Workstation (Sun Microsystems, Inc) ) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com their businesses. With $15.7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com About BellSouth BellSouth is a $25 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications services, Internet, data and e>commerce applications, wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. , entertainment services, and online and directory advertising to nearly 39 million customers in 19 countries worldwide. BellSouth's Web site is located at http://www.bellsouth.com In addition to historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. regarding future valuations, revenue projections, other events and trends. Factors that could affect future results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include, without limitation: (i) a change in economic conditions in markets where we operate or have material investments which would affect demand for our services; (ii) the intensity of competitive activity and its resulting impact on pricing strategies There are many ways in which the price of a product can be determined. The following are the foremost strategies that businesses are likely to use. Competition-based pricing Setting the price based upon prices of the similar competitor products. and new product offerings; (iii) higher than anticipated cash requirements; and (iv) technological developments. URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.092600/bb2 |
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