Global Crossing Provides Convergence-Ready Platform for Newsquest Media Group Ltd
Wednesday April 18, 4:00 am ET
- Platform provides data and VoIP-ready IP VPN capabilities to 160 sites across the UK.
- Global Crossing to manage existing platform and migrate traffic to new IP VPN.
LONDON, April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Crossing announced today it is providing a fully managed Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) capable of supporting data and voice services to Newsquest Media Group, the UK's second largest regional newspaper publisher. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily paid-for newspapers, in the UK. Global Crossing's IP VPN will be used for day-to-day business data traffic and newspaper production among 160 sites.
Under the five-year $20 million contract signed last September, Global Crossing is providing an IP VPN solution that will ease the implementation of converged IP services and deliver the class of service (CoS) necessary to support the introduction of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) within 12 months. Global Crossing also will consolidate 50 server locations into two data centers and provide new Internet access points for the data centers.
"We're pleased Newsquest Media Group placed its confidence in Global Crossing's ability to migrate their network to a converged platform at a pace that suits their business requirements," said Anthony Christie, managing director for Global Crossing UK and Europe. "By awarding us this contract, Newsquest clearly have trust in our skill to migrate their legacy network with minimum operational disruption to mission-critical traffic."
The first phase of the agreement includes managing the existing platform and migrating data traffic to a new IP VPN. Newsquest's day-to-day traffic comprises large data files from applications, such as terminal services, file transfer protocol (FTP) and Internet browsing. A combination of access options, including ADSL, ISDN and Ethernet will improve cost efficiencies and load sharing across the network.
"We chose Global Crossing because we need a provider that could deliver a next-generation managed service without disrupting the time-critical nature of our newspaper operations." said Graham Hodgson, IT director, Newsquest. "Global Crossing fully grasped our requirements at a national and regional operating level and came up with a robust solution to effectively manage a complex migration to an IP infrastructure with class-of-service capability. It was essential to choose a technology provider who could deal directly with IT issues affecting our 20 business regions."
Global Crossing was also chosen because it was able to provide an IP platform that will accommodate future industry trends. The ability to converge data, voice and video onto a single IP-based platform will enable Newsquest to adapt to changing business environments as it grows.
Global Crossing IP VPN Service(TM) provides a private, scalable, reliable and cost-effective wide area network solution. It gives customers global access to pertinent information required to increase productivity, improve work flow, and quicken decision-making giving them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
In operation since 2001, Global Crossing's MPLS-based IP VPN service reaches more than 600 cities in 60 countries and six continents. It runs directly on the company's global fiber-optic network, which operates at 99.999 percent availability. Global Crossing's IP VPN service supports multiple classes of service. In addition to secure data transport, the service also provides access to VoIP, IP Video and other IP services, providing a complete platform for managing the transition to IP convergence.
ABOUT NEWSQUEST MEDIA GROUP
Newsquest is a subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI - News) which is a leading International news and information company that publishes 99 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns more than 900 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett operates 21 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader in the U.S. and UK. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily paid for newspapers, in the UK |
