BCE Inc. (Bell Canada)
Teleglobe, Nortel in Pact
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By Michael P. Bruno,
Washtech.com Staff Writer
Monday, November 20, 2000; 10:57 AM
Internet backbone provider Teleglobe has a lot for which to be thankful this month. The company was acquired, announced new hiring and unveiled an Internet data center (IDC)-creation initiative.
And for dessert, Teleglobe of Reston, Va., this morning said it inked a $400 million contract with Nortel Networks [NYSE:NT] to offer Nortel's optical Internet services over Teleglobe's global Internet protocol network.
Under several undetermined payments, Nortel will supply Teleglobe with its "OPTera Long Haul 1600 Optical Line System," used to transport high-bandwidth Internet and voice services on Teleglobe's "GlobeSystem" networks in North America, Europe and Asia, Teleglobe said. The firm added that the deal beefs up its network capacity to 800 Gbits/s per fiber, as well as support future data backbone networks.
In North America, one of the first routes in operation is Montreal to New York. But internationally, Nortel Networks has lit Teleglobe's OC- 48 SONET ring in Tokyo and new European fiber routes with dense wave division multiplexing capacity across the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
Also, Teleglobe will deploy Nortel's "Preside" network, service management and "OPTera Connect DX Connection Manager," which should hasten delivery of high-bandwidth managed optical services. And Nortel also will provide services support, including project management and spares management.
Altogether, Teleglobe said the contract gives it the electronics and network uniformity needed to get the most out of the bandwidth and the operating efficiency of its fiber optic terrestrial and submarine cables.
Teleglobe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Montreal-based BCE Inc. [TSE:BCE], which bought all of Teleglobe's stock at the beginning of the month. In turn, Teleglobe's Canadian and US operations have been mostly consolidated in Reston, where the group expects to hire 175 to 200 new workers.
And last Monday, Teleglobe said it will build a total of 400,000 square feet of IDC space in Frankfurt, Miami, San Francisco, Toronto, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., next year. The company plans to expand this initiative further with additional unnamed locations based on customer demand.