Eircom has signed a three-year deal with Standard Life to provide the finance firm with a next generation voice and data network based on voice-over IP (VoIP) technology.
The new network connects Standard Life’s seven locations in Ireland with two head office locations in the UK. The unified network also facilitates the company’s move to using e-commerce technologies to interface with its brokers. This fully managed solution is expected to save Standard Life €250,000 a year in the running costs of their network.
With operations in Ireland, UK, Germany, Austria, Spain, China, India and Canada, Standard Life employs almost 10,000 people worldwide, providing everything from major investment opportunities for mulitnationals to life assurance for the average family. Having superior customer service at its core, the company is constantly seeking out new technologies from which it can derive cost savings to be passed on to clients.
The complete end-to-end managed IP solution comprises VoIP, managed internet and integrated messaging on a secure IP wide area network platform, based on Eircom business IP+. It is backed by the power and security of MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) technology and supported with network monitoring and management from Eircom subsidiary Lan Communications.
Cathal Magee, managing director, Eircom Retail, said that the agreement with Standard Life is further evidence that VoIP has come of age. “Across the telecommunications industry, we’re seeing more and more companies choose to route their voice and data over MPLS-enabled IP networks like our Business IP+ network. The cost efficiency is very compelling, and clients gain the same level of security as with more traditional wide-area technologies.”
By John Kennedy
