from Yahoo:
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Ascend Communications, Inc.
Eric Warren, 510/747-6683
ewarren@ascend.com |
