Global One Announces Major Enhancements and Over
US$100 Million in Customer Contracts for Global Frame
Relay
Three New Classes of Service, Additional Countries, Performance Guarantees, And Customer Acceptance
Put Flagship Solution Another Step Ahead of The Competition
BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Global One, the international joint venture of Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, and
Sprint, today announced major enhancements to its flagship Global Frame Relay Service, including the introduction of three Classes of
Service (CoS). The new CoS give customers significant flexibility to prioritize their frame relay traffic and thereby satisfy specific
applications and business needs. In addition, Global Frame Relay customers can also select between different price points with different
traffic burst capabilities -- a major advantage over competing services.
This latest innovation responds to the diverse requirements of multinational customers, whose service demands generated a 60 per cent
increase in Global Frame Relay revenues in 1998. According to the most recent survey by Vertical Systems of international frame relay
services, Global One had an international market share growing faster than any other frame relay service provider. At the same time, Global
Frame Relay coverage is expanding quickly and now totals 59 countries with the recent addition of South Africa, Uruguay, and Jordan.
''Global Frame Relay market demand and revenue growth are over 30 per cent ahead of our projections, and the introduction of Classes of
Service with expanded international coverage will promote further market share gains,'' said Tom Wyrick, vice president for data services.
''Major customers, such as UPS, RJ Reynolds International, Bozano, Simonsen (Brazil), Kuwait Petroleum International, and China
Shipping Group have recently chosen Global Frame Relay because of the significant competitive advantages it offers them to satisfy their
global business communications needs. The total value of these recent Global Frame Relay contracts is over US$ 100 million.''
''The latest enhancements to Global Frame Relay bring great value to businesses looking for high-quality frame service,'' said Yankee
Group analyst Kitty Weldon. ''High-volume customers will benefit from greater flexibility, wider price-performance options, and
improved prioritization made possible by Global One Classes of Service.''
Global Frame Relay operates over a common network infrastructure on which Global One and its three shareholder companies use the
same type switches. With over 400 of the same type of switches in the seamless Frame Relay service network, Global Frame Relay covers
more cities worldwide with a common technology than any other similar service today. Such a network has an inherent quality of service
advantages over Frame Relay networks built on different technologies and is another tangible result of the over US$ one billion
infrastructure investment program completed by Global One during the last three years.
The new Global Frame Relay CoS allow customers to prioritize traffic to satisfy specific applications and business needs. The CoS extend
traffic management capabilities beyond just Committed Information Rate (CIR) and port speed, permitting end-to-end prioritization of
mission-critical traffic. Each CoS is defined and differentiated by a unique combination of configuration metrics to match
customer-specific requirements. Various pricing alternatives are available for each of the three Classes of Service:
LAN CLASS OF SERVICE
This CoS is ideally suited for LAN-to-LAN applications or other data applications such as large file transfers, e-mail, CAD/CAM,
graphics-rich LAN applications, groupware applications, and intranets. It is designed to suit throughput-oriented applications with variable
response time requirements, variable traffic rates, and bursty traffic flows. For additional flexibility within the LAN CoS, Global One
provides the opportunity for the customer to select an excess burst options ranging from 2x CIR subscription up to full minimum access
rate to match specific requirements.
PRIORITY CLASS OF SERVICE
This CoS is specifically designed for applications that are more sensitive to variability in propagation delay from frame to frame, also
known as ''latency sensitive.'' It is applicable to delay-sensitive, mission-critical environments, such as supporting legacy SNA
applications. Priority CoS provides a higher prioritization than does the LAN CoS. For additional flexibility within the Business CoS,
Global One provides the opportunity for the customer to select an excess burst options ranging from 2x CIR subscription up to full
minimum access rate to match specific requirements.
MULTIMEDIA CLASS OF SERVICE
This CoS is specifically designed for applications that are highly sensitive to variability in network delay from frame to frame (''latency
sensitive'') and have relatively consistent bandwidth requirements, such as voice, video and fax applications. This CoS provides the highest
prioritization of traffic to support the characteristics of real-time data.
The introduction of Classes of Service adds to the recognized leadership of Global One in the international Frame Relay market. Large
national and international businesses around the world have increasingly come to rely on Global Frame Relay as a cost-effective alternative
to private lines, combining high bandwidth capacity and an ability to handle effectively burst-on-demand transmissions. Global Frame
Relay provides customers with premier-quality service, Permanent Virtual Circuits with a wide range of Committed Information Rates, and
port access speeds from 56/64 Kbps to two Mbps. Speeds up to 45 Mbps are planned for 1999 delivery.
Global Frame Relay Service Level Agreements (SLAs) covering delivery time, transit delay, throughput, availability, and time to repair are
offered to Global Frame Relay customers. The new Global Guarantee Program, covering Global Frame Relay and other voice, data, and IP
services, is the most comprehensive program of standard SLAs in the market today. Additionally, customers have the option to monitor the
status and performance of their Global Frame Relay service via the new Global One Web-based Global Customer Workstation.
CUSTOMERS ENDORSE GLOBAL FRAME RELAY
Xiang Shun-Di, general manager of China Shipping Telecom, CSG, China's premier shipping conglomerate, commented: ''Global Frame
Relay services will provide critical support for our complex business operations worldwide, and the addition of classes of service should
further enhance this innovative data solution.''
According to John Nellen of Kuwait Petroleum International, ''Our final choice for Global One was inspired by the quality that Global
One was able to offer in combination with their service management, pricing and network coverage. In addition, the positive experience we
have had with Global One over the past few years played an important role in our decision making.''
Lucio Beleza, telecommunications director of the Bozano, Simonsen Group, stated: ''The Global One managed network solution will
consolidate and maximize the efficiency of our entire telecommunications infrastructure.''
Global One offers a single source for the provision of seamless voice, data and IP services for businesses, carriers and consumers around
the world. Set up as a worldwide joint venture of Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and Sprint, Global One is a fully integrated company
in its own right, with over 1,400 network access centers in more than 65 countries. Global One offers the world's most far-reaching
ATM-based network and in 1998 had revenues of more than US$ 1.1 billion.
SOURCE: Global One
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