VON Europe, London, UK and Dublin, Ireland, 8 June, 2004 - IBM and CIRPACK announced today they have been awarded a significant deal by Smart Telecom, an Irish telecommunications company, for the provision and installation of Next Generation Voice Switching Technologies, based on IBM's eServer xSeries and CIRPACK's Carrier-Class SoftSwitch and PSTN Gateways. IBM and CIRPACK were chosen over a significant list of competitors as Smart Telecom's primary switching integrator for their new core telecommunication network, a plan that will roll-out over the next few years. Smart Telecom, providers of voice and broadband services, are the third largest telco operator in the Republic of Ireland.

To support the growth of their business, Smart Telecom were looking to invest in the latest telecommunication platform. CIRPACK MultiNode replaces their legacy voice switches and increases the capacity of their voice infrastructure. Smart Telecom can now grow their prepaid-service business, optimize their long distance call routing, manage all their public payphones, lower their overall costs and prepare for voice over IP (VoIP) to offer radically new and competitive services to the Irish residential and SME customer. It specifically sees VoIP as an offering that both residential and corporate customers are now ready to embrace.

"We are planning on installing equipment at 50 local telephone exchanges to supply a range of broadband internet and telephone services," said Mr Oisin Fanning, Smart Telecom, chief executive. "Amongst some of the benefits end-users can look forward to are single telephone billing for line rental and calls and paying for the services they use. In addition, for the small business user or home user there will be the possibility to have multiple numbers off one telephone line, with the potential to add extra numbers at any time automatically with no waiting period."

According to Gerry McCarthy, IBM Integrated Technology Services Business Manager, "This deployment with CIRPACK is an illustration of IBM's commitment to the telecommunications industry. Working together, CIRPACK and IBM's technology for Service providers brings customers such as Smart Telecom the best in technology and innovation." He continued, "It will enable operators to deliver better services to their customers, providing 'on-demand' bundling options which suit the end-users requirements. Up until now, customers have been charged for the amount of time they spend online; Smart Telecom will be able to provide bundling options where the customer will be charged for the services they use and not tied to in to a restrictive package which does not suit their individual requirements."

The win includes IBM eServer xSeries running the CIRPACK Class-5 SoftSwitch application, CIRPACK Media/Signaling Gateways, project management, planning, installation, and maintenance services which will be delivered through IBM Integrated Technology Services (ITS). The maintenance agreement is for three years.

"Smart Telecom has chosen the right technology and the right partners to accelerate its deployment and boost its profitability," explains Jean-Pierre Dumolard, CIRPACK's CEO. "This contract is very special to CIRPACK, because it further demonstrates that IBM is a great system integrator capable of packaging complex solutions for carriers' voice infrastructure and handling the entire sales cycle. Working with IBM allows CIRPACK to reach new markets, target larger operators and become a major supplier of voice infrastructure equipment," he adds.

 

About IBM Global Services

IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services and consulting provider, generating record revenue and signings in 2003 of $42 billion and $55.5 billion, respectively. Some 180,000 professionals in more than 160 countries help clients integrate information technology with business value -- from the business transformation and industry expertise of IBM Business Consulting Services to hosting, infrastructure, technology design and training services. Leveraging IBM's unequalled scope and scale, IBM Global Services delivers integrated, flexible and resilient processes -- across companies and through business partners -- that enable clients to benefit from the on demand business model by saving money and transforming their businesses to be more competitive. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services.

About CIRPACK

CIRPACK develops next-generation telephony platforms for operator infrastructures: Local Exchange and Transit switches with simultaneous native support for VoDSL, VoIP, VoWLL, VoCable, IP Centrex, ISDN PRI/BRI, POTS, as well as long-distance telephony using any IP, ATM and TDM protocols. CIRPACK deployed the world's largest SoftSwitch-based PSTN as early as 1998 and is currently deploying the largest European residential VoIP service. CIRPACK's carrier-class solutions are highly scalable to meet the requirements of small and large operators, enabling profitable business plans. CIRPACK works with industry leaders such as IBM Global Services to provide global solutions. CIRPACK's customers include Free/Iliad, Og Vodafone, Irisnet/Mobistar, Novaxess/Easynet, 9Telecom, Outremer Telecom and Prosodie, among others. CIRPACK is a European equipment vendor headquartered near Paris. For more information, please visit www.cirpack.com.

About Smart Telecom

Smart Telecom delivers innovative telecommunication services to residential and corporate customers in Ireland, is the leading supplier of pre-paid call cards and the second largest provider of payphones in Ireland with over 2,500 payphones throughout Ireland. Smart Telecom was established in 2000 and has rapidly grown in the intervening years to become one of Ireland's leading telecommunications providers. Based in Citywest, Co Dublin, with a staff of 150 Smart Telecom has an ambitious expansion strategy in order to develop a major footprint in the Irish market. Central to its strategy is an aggressive acquisition of residential phone customers. Smart Telecom has bought a number of telecommunications businesses since it was set up in 2000. The group currently has around 50% of the payphone market from its 2,500 payphones in Irish airports, street sites, shopping centres and hotels. For more information, please visit: www.smarttelecom.ie