March 17, 2005 - Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) has signed two contracts with Ampacet to manage its growing multinational expansion and messaging initiatives. The agreement includes a three-year deal to manage Ampacet’s IP VPN and a two-year contract to consolidate, manage and protect its messaging infrastructure.
Headquartered in Tarrytown, N.Y., Ampacet is the world’s leading volume provider of color and additive masterbatch solutions. In 2003 the company began expanding operations globally through new business acquisitions in England, Brazil and Italy. To support this growth, Ampacet chose Equant to manage its worldwide network, initially connecting 14 facilities in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe, with additional connections throughout Europe and Asia soon to follow.
As part of the deal, Equant will provide a complete Network Optimization Solution, including IP VPN, project management, extended fault management and customer service management. Key benefits from this implementation include:
- Cost savings of 30 to 40 percent with better network performance and improved order processing.
- Unified global billing and customer support.
- Global deployment of Ampacet’s JD Edwards enterprise resource planning application.
With the Equant Messaging Optimization Solution, Ampacet will benefit from the cost-effective protection of their messaging infrastructure, with improved email security and filtering in North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Ampacet is also considering Equant’s archiving and Active Directory migration services as the company looks to upgrade to Exchange 2003. In addition, Equant is working with Ampacet to provide Remote Access and professional services, such as LAN Analysis.
“With its international reach and breadth of IP network experience and expertise, Equant has demonstrated that it can support our worldwide expansion,” said Bob Woods, Global IT director of Ampacet. “This relationship also alleviates our need for additional providers or partners. As Ampacet faces new business challenges beyond 2005, we are assured that Equant will be there every step of the way.”
“This new relationship further illustrates the strength of Equant’s network and services offerings,” said Mack Treece, head of Americas Sales and Marketing for Equant. “As companies like Ampacet expand beyond their borders, only Equant offers the capabilities to seamlessly and securely tie every location together regardless of size or region. We look forward to working side-by-side with Ampacet to fulfil its ever-changing communications solutions needs.”
About Ampacet Corporation
Ampacet manufactures on four continents, sells into over 80 countries and has capacity approaching one billion pounds of color and additive masterbatches. With global capabilities, cost savings initiatives, creative thinking, and a staff of color experts who bring a new dimension to color innovation, Ampacet has all the resources to manage the elements of success. Ampacet world headquarters is in Tarrytown, NY.
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 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 nearly 1,300 global businesses. Equant, a subsidiary of France Telecom, 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 SEC Form 20-F, which identifies 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 our history of operating losses, the unpredictability of growth in our industry, the fact that the interests of France Telecom, our largest shareholder, may differ from the interests of our other shareholders, changing technology, uncertain and changing regulatory restrictions, currency fluctuations, dependence on suppliers, network security issues, intense competition in our industry, and volatility of our stock price. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Equant on the date hereof, and Equant assumes no obligation to update such statements.
CONTACTS:
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Lars Heeg
+31 (0) 20 606 92 63
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LEWIS Benelux BV (PR agency)
Kim van Bokhoven
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