London - June 29, 2004 - Bonded Broadband innovation from Viatel is market first
Same speed, half cost replacement for leased lines
UK wide availability extends benefits of faster broadband to rural businesses
Viatel, the pan-European communications company, has beaten its competitors to market with a cost-effective, high-speed broadband service suitable for business users. The managed service bonds together standard broadband lines into a high-speed service that aggregates bandwidth and rivals leased lines for speed. At the same time it undercuts the cost of leased line services by up to 50%.
The service will prove especially popular with businesses in rural areas that up until now have been neglected by incumbent players. It will also deliver cost savings and a smooth transition to urban companies stuck between low speed ADSL and costly leased lines.
Roberto Bonanzinga, Senior Vice President Marketing and Business Development of Viatel said: "We\'re leading where the incumbents have feared to tread. Starting with a clean slate and a fresh approach means we\'re free from worries about cannibalisation of existing revenues and allows us to provide services that match the needs of businesses."
"Today\'s announcement levels the playing field for businesses outside of key metropolitan areas, who up until now faced an outlook of a five year wait for SDSL availability coupled with increasing congestion of standard ADSL services."
Bonded broadband will allow mid-size businesses to achieve download speeds as high as 8Mbps and significantly, upload speeds up to 1Mbps - a key enabler for advanced services such as voice over IP and database packages.
The fully managed service can bond a mixture of up to four ADSL or SDSL lines providing a fully tailored service to businesses whatever their needs. The service is fully managed, and once installed is monitored 24/7 by Viatel service engineers negating the need for user maintenance. The monthly charge includes the cost of a Cisco router and Cisco qualified engineer to install it. Unlike consumer bonded DSL offerings, the service runs over uncontended lines and is fully managed with strict service level guarantees.
Bonanzinga continued."Whilst many customers require the speed of a leased line they cannot justify the cost. Viatel\'s Bonded Broadband provides the flexibility and the bandwidth of a leased line at a reasonable price."
Bonanzinga added: "The introduction of this service will open up applications such as Citrix, video over IP and voice over IP to mid sized businesses currently priced out by the high cost of leased lines and the limited upload capacity of standard ADSL."
Editor\'s notes
Ideal scenarios for the service include:
Customer requires high bandwidth but is too far from the exchange.
Typical costs for a synchronous leased line 512 Kbps connection could amount to an upfront installation charge and equipment cost of £3,500 plus monthly charges of £900.
An equivalent service on Viatel\'s Bonded Broadband based upon combining two 256kbps lines would amount to no more than the cost of the two uncontended lines, plus a monthly management charge.
Customer\'s exchange limited to 512kbps maximum, or only capable of rate adaptive ADSL
Even if individual ADSL lines are able to deliver no more than 512kbps, Viatel can still bond these together to provide a 2Mbps service downstream and a 1Mbps service upstream. Viatel can also utilise their least expensive uncontended 256kbps ADSL service and provide 1Mbps in either direction by bonding 4 lines together.
Customer requires higher upload speed but is not in an SDSL area, and cost of direct internet access (leased line) is prohibitive.
The nature of ADSL means that no matter the provider the premium 2Mbps DSL packages are limited to upload speeds of a mere 256kbps. Viatel\'s Bonded Broadband can provide upload speeds of up to 1Mbps almost anywhere in the UK, whilst download speeds reach a scorching 8Mbps.
| Line Type | Upload Speed | Download Speed |
| ADSL | ||
| 2 x 256kbps ADSL Lines 2 x 512kbps ADSL Lines 2 x 1Mbps ADSL Lines 2 x 2Mbps ADSL Lines | 512kbps 512kbps 512kbps 512kbps | 512kbps 1Mbps 2Mbps 4Mbps |
| 3 x 256kbps ADSL Lines 3 x 512kbps ADSL Lines 3 x 1Mbps ADSL Lines 3 x 2Mbps ADSL Lines | 768kbps 768kbps 768kbps 768kbps | 768kbps 1.5Mbps 3Mbps 6Mbps |
| 4 x 256kbps ADSL Lines 4 x 512kbps ADSL Lines 4 x 1Mbps ADSL Lines 4 x 2Mbps ADSL Lines | 1Mbps 1Mbps 1Mbps 1Mbps | 1Mbps 2Mbps 4Mbps 8Mbps |
| SDSL | ||
| 2 x 512kbps SDSL Lines | 1Mbps | 1Mbps |
| 2 x 1Mbps SDSL Lines | 2Mbps | 2Mbps |
| 2 x 2Mbps SDSL Lines | 4Mbps | 4Mbps |
Full range of Bonded Broadband services
Viatel possess the flexibility and the capability to meet customers\' needs by mixing and matching any of the above speeds of broadband. Furthermore the customer can avoid the pain of in-house management of the service, with Viatel providing and running all equipment according to strict service level guarantees.
About Viatel
Viatel is a pan-European data and internet services company delivering great services in communications to European businesses, regardless of size.
Operating across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland and headquartered in the UK, Viatel is virtually debt free and operates a pan-European network. Headed by Lucy Woods, formerly of WorldCom EMEA and BT, the company employs 180 people throughout Western Europe to provide services including IP-VPNs, managed hosting and managed connectivity.
For further information on Viatel, please visit www.viatel.com.
For further information please call:
James Ralph or Nick Keegan on +44 (0)207 730 5575
