July 11, 2000
Cable
& Wireless Opens Second Next Generation Web-Hosting Centre
Cable & Wireless, the global telecommunications group, today announced it has opened one of the largest data and web hosting centres in Europe. This follows the opening of its US centre in Reston, Virginia, last November and builds on the company's commitment to meet the continuing growing demand for business data and internet-based solutions.
Opened this morning in Swindon, England, by Patricia Hewitt, MP, Government Minister for Small Business and E-commerce, the Internet Solutions Centre has over 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2) of floor space. It is directly connected to the Cable & Wireless global IP (Internet Protocol) backbone which delivers integrated internet, data, voice and messaging communications with a consistent quality of service for businesses worldwide.
This is the next step for Cable & Wireless in delivering its web hosting capacity globally. Today's opening signals a total of over 204,000 square feet (18,900 m2) ready for service -- 20 per cent of the company's planned hosting and data storage capacity worldwide by the end of 2002.
Other sites are close to completion. The site in Santa Clara, California, is due in October, adding another 64,000 square feet (5,900 m2), while the expansion of its sites in Tokyo and Osaka are due early next year, bringing Cable & Wireless close to half way through the programme.
All the centres will be directly on Cable & Wireless' global IP network and will further strengthen Cable & Wireless' position as a leading web hosting company.
Cable & Wireless is investing £2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) in its global IP network build programme. In November last year, the company announced it was building an IP network of 84 international nodes by 2001 in its drive to build the most advanced OC 192 (9.6 gbit/s) capable global IP network in the industry, the first phase of which was completed in April 2000. In Europe, it is investing £600 million (US$1 billion) to extend the coverage of the core 9.6 Gigabits (OC192) IP network by connecting 200 cities across the continent to the world's largest and most advanced data and IP network.
Graham Wallace,
Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless, said:
"This is another key step in the delivery of Cable & Wireless' IP and data strategy. As companies around the world do more and more of their business over the internet, they need our resources and expertise globally to support their e-commerce activities. With these worldwide web hosting centres linked to our global IP network, Cable & Wireless can provide customers with world-class communications, hosting, e-commerce, application service requirements, and guaranteed performance levels.
"Our web-hosting products and services provide fully scaleable solutions to meet the growing demand for web site management at any stage in a company's web site life cycle. It leverages our world-class web hosting centres, built directly on the nodes of our single global IP network."
Patricia
Hewitt MP, Minister of State at the Department of Trade & Industry said
today:
"This Internet Solution Centre is an example of how a communications company can match the needs of modern business, offering a one stop shop for all their online requirements. Any sized business, national or global, can have their web hosting needs met from the site at Swindon, and I welcome this innovative approach to attracting business customers to make greater use of the web. It is one more step on the road to Britain becoming a world leader in e-commerce."
The new site has a bandwidth capability of 9.6 G/bps, 150,000 times faster than an ISDN line, and state-of-the-art security systems providing highly reliable and secure environments. Other features include:
• On-site power station, capable of running the centre on 500,000 litres of diesel for 20 days without the need to refuel, will ensure continuous electrical back-up.
• Permanently staffed by on-site security personnel
• 24 x 7 expert real time operations centre staffed by web hosting technical experts
• 24 x 7 helpdesk
•Constant humidity and temperature
• Closed-circuit video surveillance
• Access cards and finger-print scan identification
• Customer testing laboratory to ensure that all customer equipment is thoroughly tested before it goes 'live'.
• Equipment receiving and storage controls for tracking and securing customer equipment
The new Internet Solutions Centre in Swindon will be able to supply business customers of all sizes and in all sectors with a range of web-hosting services, including:
• The Cable & Wireless Co-Location Web Hosting Service which enables businesses to host content themselves on Cable & Wireless' global IP network in order to serve applications that require distributed, real-time and high-volume transmission capability. Customers have access to secure cages and racks in Cable & Wireless' ISC, direct access to its high speed, global IP network, and customer-connect port monitoring. Co-location web hosting is ideal if a customer has the web experience and the in-house skills to manage a web solution, but would rather avoid the expense of establishing their own data centre facilities.
• Because of its premier position in the US -- it supports more than 3,500 URLs, including many of the world's most widely recognised companies on the web - Cable & Wireless is already the world's number two for high-end, dedicated web hosting. The Cable & Wireless Dedicated Web Hosting Service allows customers to get their Internet business on line in short time scales with their own dedicated servers configured to their specification and managed in Cable & Wireless' world class ISC with a high speed connection to the Cable & Wireless Tier 1 IP global backbone. It is is ideal if the customer requires more than a basic web presence and has a specific requirement that cannot be met by a Dedicated Packaged solution.
• The Cable & Wireless Managed Solution Service that provides Co-Location and Dedicated customers with an a la carte menu of 16 site management services for complex web site management requirements.
• The Cable & Wireless Dedicated Packaged Service which offers a set of five predefined packaged solutions, on pre-configured platforms. It provides a migration path from the Shared Web Hosting service and is targeted at customers whose web site become more critical to their business and demand increased web space and processor speed. If a customer's web requirements are relatively simple but they do not have the resources to implement it in-house, they will find that a Dedicated Package will meet their requirements.
As part of the formal opening of its Internet Solutions Centre in Swindon, Graham Wallace also announced its first customers were already being installed. Most of Xerox's web activities worldwide are co-hosted and co-located with Cable & Wireless and a number of those activities will be hosted in Swindon, while the Cable & Wireless Application Service Provision (ASP) services, as part of its partnership with Compaq( and Microsoft( in this field, will be hosted in Swindon and at its site in Reston, USA.
And, following last week's landmark agreement between Cable & Wireless and Nokia to create the world's first truly global wireless internet platform, this service will be offered to European customers from this Internet Solutions Centre.
The global web hosting market is predicted to grow from a current figure of US $3 billion to US$23 billion by 2002.* Demand for services ranges from the simplest hosting service, providing email and basic websites, to highly customized, managed application development and integration.
- ends -
Webcast on Internet Solutions Centre: www.cw-isc.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
Cable & Wireless is a major global telecommunications business with annual revenue of over £9 billion (US$14 billion) and customers in 70 countries. Its businesses around the world offer a range of services spanning broadband data, Internet and voice services. Cable & Wireless' priority for expansion is the fast growing market of IP (Internet Protocol) and data services for business customers. It is making major investments in developing advanced networks and services in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region to build the world's leading global IP infrastructure. With the capacity of this advanced infrastructure and its presence in key business markets, Cable & Wireless holds a unique position in terms of global coverage and services to business customers.
* source: Forrester Research, Internet Services Hypergrowth, Feb. 1999
Cable & Wireless and the Globe Device are registered trademarks of Cable and Wireless plc
For editorial information, please contact:
David
Thain
Cable & Wireless (UK)
Tel: 020 7674 5442
Email: david.thain@cwcom.co.uk
Nicola
March
Cable & Wireless Global
Tel: 020 7315 4031
Email: nicola.march@plc.cwplc.com
Douglas
Long Brodeur
Worldwide (for Cable & Wireless)
Tel: 01753 790700
Email: dlong@uk.brodeur.com