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Wednesday March 25, 8:04 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Ascend Helps BT Connect Its Remote, Mobile and Roving Employees in
One of the U.K.'s Largest Corporate Remote Access Projects
BT has Extended the Reach of Its Core IS Systems to a Population
of Over 10,000 Mobile, Roving and Teleworker Employees in One of
the Biggest Remote Access Projects Ever Undertaken in the U.K.
Using multiprotocol WAN access switches from Ascend Communications, Inc., British Telecom Remote Access (BTRA)
enables remote access users across the entire company to connect to BT's internal Intranet and central site applications via
analogue, ISDN, and GSM services, with the same level of security and ease of access as if they were a node on the LAN.
Sales representatives, engineers, management and support staff can now remotely access systems ranging from contact
databases and mainframe fault diagnosis applications to word-processing and e-mail.
An installation of 50 Ascend MAX 4000 switches supports the current BT population of remote access users while the roll-out
of an equivalent capacity is expected to provide in excess of 20,000 staff with remote access by the end of the year.
''With local access numbers in eight countries worldwide, BTRA enables our remote and mobile employees to connect to BT's
corporate data networks from anywhere on the globe, 365 days a year, using ISDN, PSTN, and GSM services,'' said Ian
Yeadon, BTRA Project Manager. ''The BT member of staff simply dials into one of four BTRA points of presence around the
country, which are populated by the Ascend MAX 4000, and are transparently connected to BT's data networks, as if they
were a node on a local LAN. User groups already include sales, marketing, and customer support engineers as well as all BT
Shops and BT Business Connections.''
''We are already working together on the next phase of the project,'' continues Yeadon, ''which will include new additional
services being made available to our users including improved International Access. We have also recently ordered the new
high density MAX TNT hardware to support the fast growing number of BT employees using the BTRA network.''
BTRA leverages the multiprotocol capabilities of the Ascend MAX 4000 in supporting both IP and IPX client configurations.
IPX is used to connect to BT's internal mail systems, as well as allowing for access to centralized resources held geographically
on Novell servers. One of the major plus points for the selection of the MAX 4000 was the efficiency and flexibility of its IPX
functionality when positioned in a large IPX environment.
An initial pilot evaluation proved the MAX 4000 to be the obvious solution for the BTRA network, providing a highly reliable,
scaleable and secure solution. ''Security was a key consideration for the BTRA project,'' commented Phil Holcroft, Ascend's
U.K. Country Manager. ''Especially when you consider this network is the only internal remote access network approved to
meet BT's rigid security requirements.''
BTRA Technology Manager, Leo Hughes, commented, ''Establishing a good relationship with Ascend has enabled us to
continue enhancing and developing the system into a World Class product, which should enable us to enhance customer service
both, internally and externally.''
Customers of BT are expected to benefit from the BTRA project in a variety of ways, including improved sales and engineer
response times eventually across all BT services. Should a system go down in the night, an ''on-call'' engineer can now log on
from home and remotely manage and fix the problem rather than making a journey into his office. In addition, sales staff can
remotely access up-to-date pricing and order entry systems for BT's products and services, speeding up customer quotations
and orders.
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, services, and sells wide area networking solutions for
telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers, and corporate customers worldwide. For more information about
Ascend and its products, please visit the Ascend Web site at www.ascend.com, or send e-mail to info@ascend.com.
Ascend is headquartered at One Ascend Plaza, 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, Calif. 94502-3002. Phone:
800/ASCEND4; Fax: 510/747-2300.
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