WASHINGTON -- Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU), a recognized industry leader in global data and IP services for multinational businesses, has expanded its Managed Services portfolio with Equant Cache Management service.

The new service provides faster and more cost-effective access to intranet and Internet content. An important differentiator of Equant Cache Management is that it is engineered to optimize IP VPN content, internal Web-enabled applications, document sharing, and intranet and Internet Web pages. To date, competing solutions have focused only on caching Internet content.

Key customer benefits of Equant Cache Management include:

Two major European multinationals – one of the world’s largest retailers and a global leader in electronics manufacturing – already have deployed Equant Cache Management on their corporate IP VPN networks, with a total of 380 caches in more than 50 countries. Numerous other customers of Equant’s former Internet-focused cache service are also considering migrating to the new service and its expanded capabilities.

"Equant has moved up the value chain with its new Managed Cache service," said Lucinda Borovick, analyst, International Data Corporation. "By adding secure caching of Intranet and other corporate content – as well as on-demand media streaming – to its former Web-focused caching, Equant has provided an important new functionality that addresses the need to support the growing deployments of enterprise web-based applications."

"The launch of Equant Cache Management service is another example of how Equant is expanding its Managed Services portfolio to meet the needs of multinational companies, many of which are under intense cost and headcount pressure," said Gilles Pradere, Equant’s head of Managed Services. "Outsourcing of mission-critical functions to an experienced global provider such as Equant, which has more than 3,000 support professionals in 140-plus countries, allows companies to concentrate on their core business and revenue generation."

Equant Cache Management features customer premise equipment designed by Network Appliance, the market leader and most experienced vendor of cache technology worldwide. Equant provides full Service Management, including 24x7 monitoring, maintenance of caches, and service level agreements for parameters such as service availability, fault and change management. Equant Professional Services design a caching architecture based on customer requirements, and Equant Project Management Services procure, deploy and install the caching equipment. Global support is provided in more than 140 countries through Equant’s Global Customer Service Centers, local help desks and other on-site support. Equant also offers several optional or alternative features that include:

Equant