Latest global deal sweet music for Equant

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 14 March 2006 12:13

IT Industry - Strategy

Equant has signed a five year outsourcing contract with Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest music company, to transform its current network into a fully managed IP network spanning 48 countries.

The deal covers all elements of UMG's communications infrastructure, including global WAN and LAN, managed voice and IP telephony, mobility, web hosting and vendor management.

Equant will provide a global MPLS-based IP VPN and 'Business Everywhere', its integrated suite of mobility solutions, to provide access via any device and any type of access network, including Wi-Fi, DSL and cellular.

Equant says the outsourcing deal "demonstrates the success of NExT, the three-year transformation strategic program announced by [parent company] France Telecom in June 2005, and of NExT Enterprise, its counterpart for the business market with a strong focus on outsourcing...NExT Enterprise gives our corporate customers, doing business in 220 countries and territories around the world, access to integrated voice, data and mobile convergent products and solutions, that are both high value and simple."

UMG consists of record labels Decca Music Group, Deutsche Grammophon, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Geffen Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Music Latino, Universal Motown Records Group, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. It claims to own "the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry. The company is a subsidiary of global media and communications company, Vivendi Universal.