C&W to use Internet
Technology on All Calls -
The same blocked for use by Net2Phone in Cayman
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By Richard Baum / with reporting by DanLalor
EDITOR'S NOTE: Following on the heels of a writfiled in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, 14 September,2000 by Net2Phone, Inc. of the United States, Silvanus TechnologiesLimited, a local Company and Howard Peterson, the Managing Directorof Silvanus, against Cable and Wireless, comes the news that Cable& Wireless PLc of Britain - the parent Company of Cable &Wireless (Cayman) Ltd, has signed a deal with Nortel NetworksCorp. of Canada to utilise Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP)- the very same technology technology now used by Net2Phone -to route their telecommunications traffic. The following is thefull report from London:
Britain's Cable and Wireless Plc on Mondaysaid it was embarking on the world's most ambitious project toroute telecommunications traffic using Internet technologies insteadof conventional switches.
The corporate telecoms company said it signeda 950 million pound ($1.40 billion) deal with Nortel NetworksCorp. of Canada to change its global network to voice-over-Internetprotocol (VoIP) which routes telecoms traffic at a quarter ofthe cost of electronic switches.
C&W shares were up 0.2 percent at 966 pence.
Both companies said it was the most aggressivemove by any company into VoIP, which is forecast to handle 900billion minutes of phone calls by 2006 compared with 675 millionminutes last year.
VoIP allows telecoms companies to replace much of their bulkyswitching equipment with Internet servers, using software forwork currently done by hardware. The standard is also better atintegrating voice and data.
Clarence Chandran, Nortel's chief operatingofficer, told Reuters he expected telecoms companies to spend$15 billion moving to VoIP over the next four years. The companywas also providing the technology to British TelecommunicationsPlc
and France Telecom.
"This is a landmark agreement, not just for ourselves andCable & Wireless, but for the industry as a whole," hesaid in a statement.
Nortel, the world's number two network equipmentsupplier, will manage C&W's VoIP network for 10 years underthe contract.
C&W said it was developing new products to take advantageof VoIP, including desktop video conferencing and advanced callredirection services.
It is already investing $3.5 billion in an Internet network thatit says will be more international and reliable than any other.