LONDON -- Six months after launching Europe’s most advanced range of high speed LAN-to-LAN networking solutions, COLT today announced it has already signed up over 25 customers for its new Switched Ethernet and Point-to-Multipoint Ethernet services. Customers include UK IT solutions firm, Principal IT; PFA Pension, one of the largest pensions funds in Denmark; HTM, the Hague public transport system; as well as a range of international media, IT and professional services firms.

These new customers are further evidence of COLT’s market-leading Ethernet services, as highlighted by RHK, the research and advisory services company, in its recent report, ‘European Ethernet Markets’*. The report identified COLT as market leader amongst Western European Ethernet service providers based on the breadth and the network reach of its services.

COLT’s portfolio of Ethernet services, which includes the industry’s first pan-European Switched Ethernet and Point-to-Multipoint solutions, is available on a metro, national and international basis in 13 countries. Businesses are selecting Ethernet to underpin sophisticated requirements such as network and data centre consolidation, data back-up and on-demand applications. It meets customer demand for a simpler, more cost-effective and scalable network infrastructure than traditional wide area networking solutions can deliver.

Point-to-Multipoint service

UK IT solutions firm Principal IT has rolled out COLT’s Point-to-Multipoint service, LANLink Hub & Spoke, as its core network infrastructure so that it can deliver voice and data services cost-effectively to over 4,000 desks around the UK. COLT LANLink Hub & Spoke enables multiple branch sites to connect to a single Ethernet hub. It is designed for customers who want to streamline their IT costs by consolidating their applications into a single location, be that a data centre or office.

“Principal IT chose COLT’s Ethernet service because we needed a robust and scalable network solution that can expand as we grow and as we add new voice and data solutions – Ethernet fitted the bill perfectly,” commented Pete Gray, Sales Director, Principal IT. “COLT also provides ongoing management of the network so we can focus our resources elsewhere, whilst having full confidence in our network reliability.”

Besides Principal IT, COLT’s first customers of this service include:

Switched Ethernet services

COLT’s Switched Ethernet services provide high-speed any-to-any connectivity between customers’ sites so they operate as a single virtual local area network (LAN) that is far simpler and more cost-effective than traditional wide area networking services.

PFA Pension in Denmark is using Switched Ethernet to connect its three main sites and carry high volumes of traffic between them. Niels Saaby Johansen, IT Director, PFA Pension commented: ”COLT’s Switched Ethernet service was attractive to us because we need high levels of security, high bandwidth and the ability to scale the bandwidth up and down in small increments as our needs change. By deploying COLT’s service, we have also been able to consolidate our servers to one single logical site and reduce the total cost of ownership of the network substantially.”

Other customers of Switched Ethernet include:

“We have seen very strong uptake of our Switched and Point-to-Multipoint Ethernet services over the last six months - testimony to our belief that Ethernet is the ideal technology for a company’s core communications infrastructure,” said Tony Guerion, head of Ethernet services, COLT. “As it is so simple, cost-effective and scalable, we expect Ethernet to become as ubiquitous in the wide area as it is in the LAN.”

Colt Telecom Group plc