Standard Life inks €35.7m comms outsourcing contract with BT

9 Mar 2012

Shay Walsh, managing director of BT Ireland's business division

Standard Life is outsourcing its communications network to BT in a five-year deal valued at €35.7m.

The contract will see BT take over managing the savings and investments provider’s communications infrastructure. It also gives the financial services operator access to a range of professional services. It also hopes the deal will enhance the overall level of service provided to customers.

The agreement includes delivery and management of a BT Connect local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN). It will also cover IP telephony, contact centres, contract management, service management and moving the infrastructure to BT’s IP Connect network.

Standard Life needed a standardised and integrated voice and data platform across its international operations, providing domestic and international network services to the company’s centres in Dublin, Boston, Chennai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Hyderabad Aida, Montreal, Paris, Pune and Sydney, as well as 16 UK offices,

Paul Chong, Standard Life’s Group IT and Commercial Director said in a statement: “BT understands our infrastructure and has vast experience in delivering complex domestic and international networking and outsourcing services. This network transformation will enable us to provide the highest standards of service to our customers, delivering on our commitment to provide them with a seamless global service.” 

Shay Walsh, managing director of BT Ireland’s business division, said the company’s background in domestic and international networking services would make the relationship a strategic one, providing capabilities for Standard Life’s Irish and international offices.

Separately, the telecoms provider announced a significant update to its BT Connect portfolio of networking solutions for Irish organisations. The move establishes ‘intelligence’ as a new dimension for the definition of network performance alongside speed, availability, scope, security and resilience.

BT Connect customers in Ireland will have access to new IP and Ethernet VPN services and features which will improve network performance and increase CIOs’ control over their own infrastructures, the company claimed.  

IP Connect converges voice, video and data applications onto a single IP network. It provides access to hosted cloud applications, allowing different sites with different needs to be connected. In addition, a new tool called BT Connect IQ evaluator will allow CIOs to assess and improve their network’s intelligence by benchmarking their network performance and seeing ways to fine tune their networking options so it’s more closely aligned with their business strategy.

Gordon Smith was a contributor to Silicon Republic

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