Alcatel and Convergence Communications Inc. Deploy Voice Over IP Solutions in El Salvador
DALLAS & SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 3, 2000--Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) and Convergence Communications Inc. (CCI) today announced that Alcatel's Voice Over IP (VoIP) solutions have been deployed in CCI's existing Internet Protocol (IP) network in El Salvador.
The deployment is a result of a $175 million financing and technology agreement between CCI and Alcatel to design, construct, and activate CCI's IP-broadband networks in the region.
CCI's IP network consists of over 100 kilometers of fiber optic cable, 570 kilometers of coaxial cable (of which 70 kilometers has been upgraded to 750 MHz two-way plant) and fixed broadband hubs. The network covers all of San Salvador and provides service to 31,000 data, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and cable customers. The solutions used in the network include Alcatel's public network and enterprise VoIP offerings.
Alcatel and CCI entered into a partnership earlier this year to provide turnkey state-of-the-art broadband IP networks in Latin America. "Our partnership with Alcatel has been of great benefit to both us and our clients," said Lance D'Ambrosio, chairman and chief executive officer, CCI. "We plan to further leverage Alcatel's technologies and experience to expand IP capabilities in the region."
According to Krish Prabhu, chief operating officer, Alcatel and chief executive officer, Alcatel Americas, "The opportunities to provide countries in Latin America with advanced IP technologies and network capabilities is growing every day. Alcatel has the broadband and IP expertise and technologies to help service providers create integrated IP networks and grow their business in the region, as demonstrated by our work with CCI."
Public Network Solution
Alcatel's public network solution for VoIP includes its X1000 Universal Access Gateway and its A1135 Service Management Center products. The X1000 is a highly scalable, reliable New Equipment Building System Level 3-compliant, multi-service access gateway. It can automatically recognize and compress voice and data traffic, and supports a full range of VoIP connections, including telephone to telephone, telephone to personal computer, personal computer to personal computer and fax to fax.
The A1135 Service Management Center features a graphical user interface that helps service providers register new subscribers, create new services and configure billing parameters quickly and easily.
Enterprise Solution
The Enterprise VoIP solution from Alcatel brings a whole new world of voice and data convergence to the enterprise network. The solution, which includes Alcatel's OmniPCX 4400 and Reflex IP telephones, helps create new business opportunities for data carriers as they migrate voice traffic from public switched telephone networks to the IP world.
The OmniPCX 4400, an advanced IP-based enterprise system based on a client/server UNIX architecture, provides a number of benefits to enterprise customers, such as toll bypass, new services, unified infrastructure for voice and data, and simplified network administration. The OmniPCX 4400 is scalable from 50 to 50,000 users, is 99.999% reliable, and provides unified messaging, with a Web-based customer contact center.
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 23 billion in 1999, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on Internet: alcatel.com.
About Convergence Communications, Inc.:
Convergence Communications, Inc., founded in 1995, and based in Salt Lake City, UT, is a Latin American facilities-based, telecommunications company which owns and operates IP-based, broadband metropolitan area networks. The Company offers a "one-stop" menu of broadband connectivity, IP-telephony, high-speed Internet access, website hosting, virtual private networks and e-commerce services to businesses and consumers in Latin America. The Company has over 10,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable and provides first-mile broadband connections through a variety of delivery technologies including fiber optic cable, hybrid fiber coaxial cable and broadband fixed wireless connections. The Company serves over 47,000 customers and currently has operations in nine countries - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Visit our website at: www.cciglobal.net |
