- Six-year contract valued at nearly 400 million euros
- Three worldwide areas included in the contract due to Equant's global reach
- Integrated network will lead to significant cost savings for AXA Group
- R&D partnership to develop innovative services
February 4, 2004 - France Télécom and its subsidiary Equant announce that the AXA Group, a worldwide leader in financial protection and wealth management, has signed a services solutions contract to optimise the performance and efficiency of its telecommunications infrastructure.
Valued at nearly 400 million euros over a six year period, the comprehensive agreement will provide an Equant IP VPN (virtual private network) to connect the headquarters, regional offices, call centres and branches of the AXA Group's major operations in Western Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. The agreement also provides a research and development partnership to ensure ongoing innovation. This will enable the AXA Group to achieve significant cost savings and respond more quickly to changing business needs.
"We have chosen France Telecom because of their expertise in information and telecommunications systems," said Claude Brunet, member of the Management Board, AXA. "France Telecom will provide AXA with a global solution that allows us to manage our network efficiently and effectively. France Telecom and Equant are top-quality partners able to support us over the long term and help us enhance our operating performance to the benefit of our clients."
Barbara Dalibard, France Telecom Executive Vice President, Corporate Solutions, said: "This contract is an excellent example of our commitment to partner with our major corporate customers in developing their telecommunications infrastructures. From the start of the project to the definition phase to deployment, France Telecom and our subsidiary Equant are intimately involved at every stage, and are also investing in specific R&D initiatives jointly with AXA. Under the contract terms, the France Telecom group will support AXA's business development by building a unified, seamless and scalable IP network dedicated entirely to AXA's needs. Enhanced by new services and featuring simplified management, this comprehensive solution covers all key telecoms components".
Data
Deployment of the Equant IP VPN solution, including a unified IP network dedicated to AXA. This solution delivers superior performance coupled with a high degree of management flexibility for Virtual Private Networks, including the ability to prioritise traffic. The network will be entirely supervised and managed by AXA with 24/7 support from France Telecom and Equant. This provides AXA with a secure Internet/Intranet access, enabling the easy development of Intranets for its different divisions and businesses.
Voice
Deployment of an Equant Switched Voice network, a private network that provides voice service in specific countries. Voice service in other countries will be based on management solutions from local operators.
Nomadism
Assist AXA in integrating and deploying nomadic access to the data network: all collaborators will have rapid access to the Information System as well as certain key applications of the AXA Group (Intranet/Internet/Messaging services), by using GSM/GPRS/WiFi/xDSL, with universal remote access solutions. An integrated connection kit dedicated to AXA will allow a high level of security and ease-of-use.
Value-added services
During the execution phase of the contract, the France Télécom and Equant teams will be working hand in hand with AXA to support the deployment of new technologies:
- Transfer of competencies in network management and engineering. In the long term, AXA will be able to directly manage equipment and bandwidth as well as adjust traffic on the network to meet its priorities.
- Development of new technologies for the integration of voice/data/video services over IP, including collaborative working, videoconferencing and telephony.
- Provision of an e-procurement application (a Supply Chain Management system) implemented in Extranet mode to enable the AXA Group and its subsidiaries to track information flows from ordering through billing. This application is based on rationalization of the operator services catalogue by service units, making it possible to manage telecom purchases via a one-stop shop.
Also within the scope of this contract, France Telecom will provide the AXA Group with R&D expertise for the development of services specific to AXA's activities.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About AXA
AXA Group is a worldwide leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA's operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA reported total revenues of Euro 72 billion for full year 2003. Assets under management at June 30, 2003 were Euro 755 billion. The AXA ordinary share is listed and trades under the symbol AXA on the Paris Stock Exchange. The AXA American Depository Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AXA. About France Télécom France Telecom is one of the world's leading telecommunications carriers, with 114,9 million customers on the five continents (220 countries and territories) and consolidated operating revenues of 46,6 billion euro for 2002 (34,5 billion euro at September 30th, 2003). Through its major international brands, including Orange, Wanadoo, Equant and GlobeCast, France Telecom provides businesses, consumers and other carriers with a complete portfolio of solutions that spans local, long-distance and international telephony, wireless, Internet, multimedia, data, broadcast and cable TV services.
About France Telecom
France Telecom is the second-largest wireless operator and Internet access provider in Europe, and a world leader in telecommunications solutions for multinational corporations. France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges.
About Equant
Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) is a recognized industry leader in global communications services for multinational businesses. Equant combines its network expertise - including unmatched seamless network reach in 220 countries and territories and local support in more than 165 countries - with its expanded services capabilities to provide global, integrated and customized communication services to enable its customers key business processes. Equant serves thousands of the world's top companies, with the industry's most extensive portfolio of communications services and network solutions, including the market-leading IP VPN used by 1,000 global businesses today. Equant, a subsidiary of France Telecom, was named Best Global Carrier 2003 and Best Managed Service 2003 at the World Communication Awards and consistently leads industry surveys in corporate user satisfaction.
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This release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Equant that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or events. Readers are referred to the documents filed by Equant with the SEC, specifically the most recent filing on Form 20-F, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things, risks relating to Equant's history of operating losses, the unpredictability of growth in Equant's markets, changing technology, uncertain and changing regulatory restrictions, Equant's international operations, dependence on suppliers, network security issues, competition, and volatility of Equant's stock price and risks relating to the combination with Global One. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Equant on the date hereof, and Equant assumes no obligation to update such statements.
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