June 12, 2003 – – Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU), a recognised industry leader in global IP and data services to multinational businesses, has won a 5-year, $6.7 million contract with Sea Containers Ltd to provide a global IP VPN solution.
Sea Containers Ltd, a Bermuda company (NYSE: SCRA and SCRB) with operating offices in London, New York, Genoa, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney, is a passenger and freight transport operator, marine container lessor and leisure industry investor. The Equant IP VPN will be used to provide connectivity to more than 50 sites in 25 countries around the world, including Australia, France, Germany, the UK and the US. For the last five years, Sea Containers has used Equant’s frame relay service.
"Due to our global presence, we needed a reputable provider with local knowledge," said vice-president of information services Duncan Scott, Sea Containers. "Equant has teams in place in all of our locations – even the most obscure – which means that it’s in a good position to meet our local needs as part of our overall business and IT strategies."
End-to-end service coverage is available in all of Sea Containers’ geographical locations. The new IP VPN solution offers other benefits including:
Š Equant IP VPN will enable Sea Containers Ltd to run IP, data, fax and voice over a single, cost-effective network providing secure, high performance connectivity to its 10,000-employee business
Š Using the class of service option under Equant’s IP VPN solution, Sea Containers Ltd can maximise bandwidth utilisation and optimise performance of applications – both proprietary and off-the-shelf – covering business-critical tasks such as: centralised container and ferry management systems, regional data collection and corporate accounting and management information
Š Equant will monitor the network 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and Sea Containers’ executives will have access to service level and near-real time reports on network performance via WebVision, Equant’s Web-based customer service portal
Š Sea Containers is also connected to agents and partners across the world via extranets on the Equant network. This facilitates sharing information and connects key contacts into the core network, enabling the business to operate faster and more effectively
"The IP VPN offering enables us to bind our most distant locations, helping us to unite our group. It’s an economically viable solution, especially for small, local offices, as we are not charged on a distance basis, but on access. It’s become clear that using IP VPN, we’ll benefit from double the bandwidth for a reduction in costs and a dramatically improved technology infrastructure," Scott said.
Sea Containers will rely on Equant to ensure smooth migration from the existing service to IP VPN. "Equant offered competitive commercial terms, and it’s a financially stable company, which gave us added security when selecting our provider," Scott said.
Howard Ford, Equant’s president of markets and sales, said, "Sea Containers is a global business, with operations from Charleston to Singapore to Sydney. Our IP VPN solution is a cost-effective and secure way of enhancing our customer’s communication and facilitating transactions beyond the already robust frame relay service that we have been providing."
Equant has served the shipping industry since 1993, beginning with Peninsular & Orient Container Line (P&O). Today Equant serves more than 100 shipping-related companies with thousands of sites in more than 176 countries. In addition to Sea Containers Ltd, P&O Nedlloyd and others, Equant currently provides service to such shipping companies as:
Š APL and APL Logistics
Š CP Ships
Š China Shipping
Š Compañía Sudamericana de Vapores (CSAV)
Š Hanjin Shipping
Š K Line
Š Kuehne & Nagel
Š Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group Ltd.
Š ZIM