For Release 17 September 1998
Unisource Belgium, the joint venture between KPN and Unisource, has been awarded a 60 million ECU contract to build a major part of the new Trans European Network, TEN-155, which will provide European research networks with both a 'best efforts' IP service and a Managed Bandwidth Service.
The 3 year contract Unisource Belgium has signed with DANTE is for the provision of an ATM Managed Bandwidth Service on top of a SDH managed backbone service for every one of DANTE's Points of Presence in 16 European countries. All the ATM switches are linked to IP routers to connect the national research networks to the Internet and the World Wide Web.
The topology of TEN-155 will provide a network with access capacities up to 155 Mbps, improving the average TEN-34 access capacity more than 7 times. Migration from the current Trans European Network, TEN-34, to TEN-155 will start in autumn this year. The operational network management of the project will be centralized in the Netherlands. The Managed Bandwidth Service, delivered by Unisource Belgium, will operate over the high-speed pan-European SDH network of KPN, the Dutch leading national telecom operator.
« Due to our comprehensive offer, the result of working directly with the customer to find the right, flexible solution, Unisource Belgium was awarded the contract to provide the network for TEN-155 », according to General Manager of Unisource Belgium Pierre Verbruggen.
« We chose Unisource Belgium because of their track record in supporting TEN-34 and their parent KPN's commitment of Quality of Service through ATM », comments General Manager of DANTE Dai Davies.
« We are also supplying added value as project manager, for example by helping DANTE with contacts with public telephone operators. Unisource Belgium has been able to offer all the components the client required while working in a flexible and fast way at a competitive price », Pierre Verbruggen added.
As a major supplier of telecom networks to European public authorities and emerging markets, Unisource Belgium is well placed to take advantage of the deregulation of the European telecom market and the availability of greater bandwidth at more competitive prices. In the liberalised countries prices of connectivity offered to TEN-155 are between five and ten times better in cost as well as in unit of capacity than those on offer in 1997 when TEN-34 was created. Thanks to this liberalisation the development of TEN-155 represents a major breakthrough.
Moreover with capacity doubling every six months, it is anticipated under the terms of the contract that Unisource Belgium's network will be 'future proof', with TEN-155 capacity reaching 622 Mbps by 2001.
UNISOURCE BELGIUM
Unisource Belgium NV is the Belgian joint venture of KPN and of the pan-European telecom alliance Unisource, which was founded in 1992 by KPN (the Netherlands) and Telia (Sweden). In 1993, the Swiss national telephone operator Swisscom joined the alliance. Unisource Belgium has grown significantly since it was founded in 1992, and is developing more and more as an alternative national operator, providing telecom services in Belgium.
KPN NV, Unisource Belgium's most important shareholder, is the leading Dutch telecommunications company. With over 8 million subscribers and 32.000 employees it is one of the most efficient telecommunications companies in Europe. Outside the Netherlands KPN provides services to their international customers through its participation in Unisource and other international joint ventures, through activities in its extended home markets (such as Belgium) and participations in other countries.
DANTE
DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Networking Technology to Europe) is the co-ordinating partner of the TEN-155 consortium made out of 16 national research networks. The organisation was established in 1993 by a number of European National Research Networks to organise and manage advanced pan-European network services for the European research community.
DANTE is active in a number of service areas : network infrastructure, network applications, and project management covering both network and applications services.
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