The transaction, first announced on 2 September 2025, and cleared by the relevant regulatory authorities, aligns with BT International’s strategy to become a global leader in secure multi-cloud connectivity through sharpened focus on core products and services.

Launched over 20 years ago, Radianz provides financial information exchange networks and connects a global community of brokers, institutions, exchanges and clearing and settlement houses to the thousands of applications and services they need for the everyday running of the world’s capital markets.

TNS is a global provider of ultra-low latency trading infrastructure, connectivity and market data services.

Bas Burger, CEO of BT International, said: “Today’s announcement is another key milestone in focusing our international business on what it does best: providing secure multi-cloud connectivity to large organisations globally. Our Radianz business unit will enter a new era with TNS and we are confident that TNS will continue to deliver exceptional service to customers.” 

Evercore served as financial advisers to TNS and Jones Day served as legal advisers to TNS. Citi served as financial advisers to BT and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner served as legal advisers to BT.

ENDS

BT today announced it has switched on Global Fabric, its new, transformative, network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform and has been carrying out extensive live testing over the past two months. The first Global Fabric services will launch in early 2025.

Global Fabric will make it easier and quicker for businesses to securely connect employees, customers and devices to apps and digital services — including artificial intelligence (AI) — that are hosted across multiple clouds.

Customers will benefit from scalable, secure, high-capacity and resilient connectivity, ready to meet the growing and complex demands of breakthrough AI technologies. Global Fabric’s flexibility will be unprecedented. With legacy networks, setting up or making changes to connectivity services can take weeks. With Global Fabric, it happens in an instant, helping businesses manage unpredictable, AI-driven spikes in data traffic.

BT has already installed Global Fabric ‘points of presence’ (PoPs) in over 45 of the world’s major cloud data centres with the number increasing to 140. This offers customers a choice of locations from which to access Global Fabric services to suit their operational, market and regulatory needs. 

Customers that do not have network connections into the cloud data centres hosting Global Fabric PoPs will be able to order new links from BT, ensuring they are ready for the launch of live services in early 2025. 

BT is also rolling out a demo of Global Fabric’s digital management portal. By November, this will allow customers’ IT teams to learn how to set up and optimise their multi-cloud network configurations and experiment with application programmable interfaces (APIs). APIs will help customers integrate Global Fabric connectivity into other digital business platforms and apps to boost innovation and growth.  

“BT’s Global Fabric will help customers hit the cloud running,” said Colin Bannon, chief technology officer, BT Business. “It will give them a choice of the world’s best cloud locations to interconnect with their customers, partners and suppliers, making them easier to do business with not just today but tomorrow too. With the achievement of our latest Global Fabric delivery milestones, we take another step closer to a new age of AI-ready, digital interconnectivity.”

ENDS

Connecting to Global Fabric PoPs

Global Fabric’s core network hardware is installed in the world’s major carrier neutral facilities (CNFs) — large datacentres where cloud providers, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies and network operators provide access to their services.

Global Fabric hardware locations are known as ‘points of presence’ (PoPs). BT makes it easy for customers to connect their sites to their business partners, and to their applications and workloads hosted in the multi-cloud, using our PoPs as global connectivity gateways.

According to Gartner, the independent report can be used to “to evaluate and select optimal global network service partners”. It is the 20^th consecutive year* that BT has been named “a Leader” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant^TM for Global WAN Services based on its “Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision”.

According to Gartner, “providers in the Leaders quadrant are performing well and maintaining a stable organisation, with a clear vision of market direction. They deliver comprehensive portfolios of quality network services across the broadest geographies. They address the global networking needs of a broad range of enterprises in terms of size, geographic distribution and vertical industry. Leaders shape the direction of the market by extending their coverage, developing new class-leading capabilities and commercial models, and deploying them at scale”.

The 2024 report can be accessed from the BT website here.

Bas Burger, CEO, Business, BT, said: “Customers tell me they want predictable performance for their apps, AI and IoT as well as future compliance on data sovereignty and sustainability. Our response is Global Fabric, our visionary new network-as-a-service. I thank our customers and partners for sharing their technology roadmaps, which has helped us develop this transformational new platform to meet their needs.”

ENDS

*Magic Quadrant for Global WAN Services was previously named Magic Quadrant for Network Services, Global (2015 – 2023)

Gartner Disclaimer

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Global WAN Services, Danellie Young, Gaspar Valdivia, Karen Brown and Lisa Pierce, 15th April 2024.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

BT and Five9, a leading provider of the intelligent CX Platform, today announced that they are expanding their partnership to enhance the choice of contact centre services and solutions offered to organisations globally.

BT will now offer the Five9 Intelligent CX Platform to new and existing customers as a managed service to help them fully digitalise their workplace through tighter integration with existing voice, digital channels, unified communications and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The integration of the cloud-native Five9 Intelligent CX Platform with BT’s secure, expansive and reliable Global Managed Voice platform offers customers an end-to-end managed service, cloud migration expertise and access to BT’s extensive experience and capabilities in managing complex technology environments.

BT customers can now choose from a range of Five9 options including digital engagement channels, analytics, workflow automation and optimisation, along with practical AI to engage and empower their contact centre agents. In addition, Five9 offers pre-built call centre integrations with leading CRM solutions, including Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft, Oracle and Zendesk.

BT will also offer access to Five9’s artificial intelligence (AI) and automation solutions, including Five9 Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA), which are embedded in the platform. These solutions can help automate processes and manage routine calls, while automatically providing agents with caller details to improve efficiency.

The expanded partnership builds on an existing agreement between BT and Five9. In November 2022, Five9 named BT its strategic carrier for voice and network services globally. This enables Five9 to expand into new markets and offer its global customers a service with improved call quality.

Andrew Small, managing director, global portfolio, Business, BT, said: “Our Five9 partnership offers BT customers a secure and future-proof route to migrate their contact centre into the cloud. BT and Five9’s combined expertise will help customers manage the transition seamlessly and enjoy the full benefits of a managed CCaaS service.”

“It is an honour to continue expanding our partnership with BT to deliver a high quality intelligent CX solution via a BT network-enabled, managed cloud service powered by Five9,” said Jake Butterbaugh, SVP Global Partner at Five9. “Enterprises now have access to Five9’s leading Intelligent CX Platform seamlessly embedded with BT’s world-class voice and data services to create more fluid experiences for their customers. This partnership reflects Five9’s commitment to grow our partner ecosystem and cultivate powerful, global partnerships to deliver CX solutions to global customers.”

BT will be attending the upcoming Five9 CX Summit EMEA hosted in Porto, Portugal and will be a featured presenter.  For more information click here

Notes to editors

About BT’s Managed Contact Centre services

BT offers businesses and organisations in the UK and globally customer experience solutions to improve agent and customer experience, with professional services to plan, implement and manage them end-to-end. Its services and solutions enable omnichannel interactions including voice, email, webchat, messenger, SMS and social media.

BT’s Inbound Contact Global platform supports inbound voice services worldwide, with physical access nodes in over 45 countries, originations from over 180 countries, and terminations to anywhere in the world. Its cloud contact centre services are supported by resilient global Contact Hubs offering a wealth of experience in customer experience transformation. BT’s Inbound Contact platforms serve over 55,000 customers globally, and more than 16 billion minutes of calls per year. Over 65,000 agents use it worldwide.

BT works with an ecosystem of partners including Five9 to deliver innovative and market leading technology. Our Cloud Contact platforms have connectors with leading CRM systems including Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, ServiceNow and Zendesk.

BT helps customers build secure end-to-end contact centres. It offers applications to protect against the dangers of fraud, all seamlessly integrated with its secure network. It also offers expertise to help customers navigate compliance and regulatory requirements.

About Five9

The Five9 Intelligent CX Platform provides a comprehensive suite of solutions for orchestrating fluid customer experiences and empowering agents. Our cloud-native, multi-tenant, scalable, reliable and secure platform includes contact center; omni-channel engagement; Workforce Engagement Management; extensibility through more than 1,000 partners; and innovative, practical AI, automation and journey analytics that are embedded as part of the platform. Five9 brings the power of people, partners and technology to more than 2,500 organizations worldwide. Through this combination, Five9 supports customer needs from Day 1 to forever and delivers on our customer commitment: “We keep our CX promise, so you can keep yours.” 

For more information, visit www.five9.com

Financial services organisations face escalating fraud risks caused by the wrong people getting access to critical systems, data and assets. Knowing who’s who can help mitigate the risk but identifying hackers and scammers is becoming increasingly difficult.

Digital transformation is creating welcome opportunities for all types of businesses. Criminal enterprises are no different. The digital tools and technologies at their disposal are becoming much more sophisticated. And with AI and machine learning now mainstream, the technology arms race between them and the industry is heating up.

We, at BT, can see this and it’s making the fraud landscape much more challenging than ever before. That’s why earlier this week, we brought together our financial services customers, competitors and industry stakeholders. At our Fighting Fraud event, we committed to work together to reverse the tide.

Of all types of fraud, consumer fraud is arguably the highest-profile risk. APP (authorised push payment) fraud alone cost British consumers £355.3m in the first half of 2021, an increase of 71 per cent year-on-year.

Internally, the proliferation of connected devices and a burgeoning “work from anywhere” culture is creating new threats. It is estimated that 79 per cent of data is shared within organisations without encryption. This is the soft underbelly in many organisations’ defences.

Thirdly, there’s cyber risk. This is the top non-financial operational risk category in banking. Most banking losses come from cybercrime or fraud linked to technology. Effective cyber risk management is now about getting a step ahead of hackers by identifying cyber threats before they even arise, and objectively quantifying their risk.

These are three very distinct categories of risk but to tackle them, they must be considered together. Organisations must look at their whole ecosystem. There must be no gaps. And they must think end-to-end across their processes.

Trusting no-one is key. Whether it’s a customer, employee or anyone else, before they can use a system, do business or access data, their identity must be authenticated — and authenticated again for each additional process or data they want to use. In the cyber security industry, we call this “zero trust”.

That broadly outlines what individual financial services organisations can do themselves. But the war on scammers, fraudsters and hackers won’t be won if each organisation stands alone.

What if, having experienced losses from a scam or hack, you hear that one of your competitors had suffered the exact same attack months ago but hadn’t warned you about it? What if it was the same criminals who pulled off the scam? I’d expect you’d be incredibly frustrated and annoyed.

At our Fighting Fraud event, we called on organisations from across the financial services industry, including regulators and consumer groups, to collaborate more comprehensively in the battle against the criminals. We know this isn’t easy.

Regulations are there to protect customers and ensure the financial services market works effectively, with resilience, and fairly. But those same regulations can sometimes prevent us from collaborating to beat the scammers. It’s a nut we need to crack because cyber criminals are already collaborating and do so very effectively and with few barriers.

For example, hackers and hacking organisations share stolen credentials, data and techniques on the dark web and offer “ransomware-as-a-service”. Cyber specialists advertise and hire out their services to other criminals. Others generate and evolve malware – share and add new code and exploits to existing malware “products”. And they advertise for and recruit other cyber criminals using the dark web too.

If we don’t collaborate, the criminals will outmanoeuvre us over and over again.

Collaborating would involve sharing data and intelligence. AI and machine learning are incredible technologies but they’re only as good as the data that feeds them. If the criminals share data and intelligence to direct their attacks, the industry must be able to do the same to keep defences one step ahead.

Consumer groups and regulators would normally be alarmed about this. So, we need their help to create trusted and compliant frameworks to allow us to share data and intelligence. From speaking to many of BT’s financial services industry customers, I know they’re fiercely competitive. Sharing their experiences and insights will be counter-intuitive but in this fight we’re all on the same side.

At our event, one audience member commented that the ongoing arms race against criminals is like this: “You build a ten foot wall to protect your business. So, the scammers turn up with an 11 foot ladder.” That indeed sums up the challenge. But what if you were warned by another firm that someone had just tried to top their walls with an 11 foot ladder? You’d know what to look out for and be able to adapt your defences in advance.   

It’s vital that we all recognise that this is not a battle we can win on our own. Only by working together will we able to rapidly identify scammers and threats and adapt our defences. By doing so, we’ll be able to move quickly against AI-powered criminals and proactively and effectively mitigate fast-evolving threats.

Cruyff once said: “Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.” It’s a lesson I’ve applied to business.

BT prides itself on the excellence of its managed services. We work with partners such as Microsoft to offer services that not only deliver the results customers expect but give quality experiences to ensure they are well used and easily adopted across their organisation.  

Around 18 months ago, we renewed and deepened our strategic partnership with Microsoft. Together, we committed to ensuring Microsoft solutions work “best on BT” delivering both quality and results. Here’s an update on our successes so far:

• Innovation

We’re innovating not only in the development of products and services, but in a digital experience. We have a digital quotation journey for Operator Connect and five solutions now available on Microsoft’s commercial Marketplace. On AppSource, we have: Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams with BT; Microsoft Teams Voice with BT; BT Virtual Events for Microsoft Teams Live Events.

And on Azure Marketplace we have: Managed Microsoft Sentinel and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) with BT; and 5G Private Network with Microsoft Azure Multi Edge Computing (MEC).

• Enterprise voice

We said we were migrating our Global Managed Voice platform to run on Microsoft Azure as part of Microsoft’s Azure for Operators programme. This is now live.

We’re offering our Global Managed Voice services directly through Microsoft Teams. And we’ll be launching Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile too.

• Cyber security

We’ve expanded our security portfolio from Managed Sentinel (Cloud SIEM) to include Microsoft Defender and XDR.  We've enabled Microsoft Sentinel onto the UK Government G-Cloud framework for Public Sector. We’re seeing an increasing number of customers buying Microsoft security plus other Microsoft services from BT in a true multi-cloud approach. 

• Industry-focused services

We’re working with Microsoft to develop a new private 5G and edge technology service designed to unlock safety, sustainability, productivity and security for a range of UK industries, from transport and logistics to manufacturing. It will bring together private mobile networks from BT with Microsoft’s Azure private multi-edge computing, which includes Azure Private 5G Core, cloud-managed edge computing and an ecosystem of application partners in robotics, video analytics and IoT.

• Consumer

Over in our Consumer division across both our EE and BT brands, we’ve been highly successful in integrating Microsoft services into a variety of our tariffs and plans. We were the first partner globally to offer M365 as an integrated solution and the integration of Game Pass Ultimate has made us the go-to fixed and mobile network for Xbox and gaming in the UK.

When I last met Omar Abbosh, president of Industry Solutions at Microsoft, he said the world is still at an early stage in its digital journey. “Partnerships are key to progress. Our Microsoft-BT partnership is built on a culture of teamwork, innovation and co-creation. By delivering high-quality digital services to end-users, we motivate customers to adopt digital technology to drive market impact and results,” he said.  

You can find out more about our Group-wide partnership with Microsoft at Mobile World Congress. We’ll have a pod on Microsoft’s stand (Hall 3, Booth #3H30) where you’ll be able to see what we’ve been delivering. This will also feature EE’s successful integration of Microsoft capabilities into market-leading services for XBox, Game Pass Ultimate and Microsoft 365. 

At BT, we aim to be the world’s most trusted connector of people, devices and machines. To earn trust, we must deliver repeatable, predictable results for our innovative managed services. As Cruyff said: “Winning is just one day, a reputation can last a lifetime.”

BT today announced new digital tools to help multinational customers measure and optimise the carbon impact of running applications and cloud workloads across their network.

While the Carbon Network Dashboard gives a real-time view of power consumption, the Digital Carbon Calculator helps customers estimate their network’s carbon footprint.

The Dashboard uses machine learning to detect and predict anomalies based on historic usage. This includes which network devices are consuming the most power. Customers can also forecast total energy use based on their network inventory and historic utilisation.

To help understand how electricity consumption translates into carbon emissions, the Dashboard includes data from regional power grids showing their carbon intensity. In future, it will draw on wider real-time information sources such as renewable energy on national grids and in datacentres.

The Calculator scans the customer’s network inventory to estimate its carbon footprint and can track how this responds to changes and upgrades over time. It includes lifecycle management, highlighting devices at the end of service to prioritise for replacement. Customers can also choose to use the calculator by uploading an inventory of their network equipment for analysis.

The launch of the new tools will be extended to BT’s UK enterprise customers in the near future. It marks the latest step in the company’s delivery of its manifesto pledge to help customers avoid 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. According to Gartner, Scope 3 emissions — those generated across an organisation from its supply chain through to product or service delivery — are the most challenging to measure yet can account for over 95 per cent of the total.

Sarwar Khan, head of digital sustainability, Global, BT said: “With customers hosting more of their applications across multiple clouds, networks are now increasingly vital for all elements of business performance, including carbon impact. Our new tools empower customers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions by optimising their network or scheduling digital workloads when renewable energy is available, helping them to achieve their net zero goals.”

• Leveraging the full scale and capabilities of BT Group to develop and deliver market-leading products and services for all our B2B customers, including next generation connectivity and unified communications, multi-cloud networking, and advanced security solutions.
• Creating a single interface to BT Group for our corporate customers and public sector institutions, combining our vertical sectoral expertise and capabilities, and removing the current duplication between Enterprise and Global.
• Driving significant and rapid gross annualised cost savings of at least £100m by the end of FY25 through consolidation and rationalisation of management teams, support functions, product portfolios and systems.

BT Business will be led by Bas Burger the current CEO of BT’s Global unit. Bas joined BT Group in 2008 and prior to the Global role was responsible for BT Americas. Before joining BT Group, Bas was executive president and a member of the management committee of Getronics NV, where he ran global sales, channels and partnerships, developing the company’s international business. He was also CEO and managing director of KPN Entercom Solutions.

This will create a simpler BT Group with three Customer Facing Units: Consumer supporting UK consumers; BT Business supporting business and public sector customers; and Openreach delivering UK nationwide fixed access infrastructure.

BT Business will create a B2B focused telecoms and technology business which in FY22 generated pro-forma revenues of approximately £8.5 billion and EBITDA of over £2 billion.

The formation of BT Business is expected to deliver at least £100m of gross annualised savings by the end of FY25. These will contribute to BT Group’s previously announced target to deliver £3bn in gross annualised savings across the same timeframe. 

BT Business will continue to invest in the skills, technology and partnerships required to achieve its ambition of returning to growth and become the leading provider of secure multi-cloud connectivity. 

Bas will lead the new unit from 1st January 2023 and it will commence reporting as a single unit from 1st April 2023. 

The CEO of BT Enterprise, Rob Shuter, will support Bas with the integration over the next few months and will then be leaving BT to step down from executive life and spend more time with family and on his personal interests. 

Philip Jansen commented: 

“Throughout the past two very challenging years, Bas and Rob have provided outstanding leadership. Covid accelerated a shift in the market as people and businesses changed the way they worked, whilst macro-economic factors have disrupted supply chains and put pressure on businesses and the public sector globally. Despite this, we’ve made progress and our customer satisfaction scores have improved, in some cases to an all time high. I am grateful to Bas and Rob for laying the foundations that enable us to take this next step in BT Group’s transformation.” 

“Bas and the Global and Enterprise teams will now work out the details of the integration over the next few months. I would like to reiterate my thanks to Rob for his contribution to BT over the last two years and wish him well for the future.”

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Two technology trends have emerged — the move to hybrid working and the relentless shift of business applications and services to the cloud, both of which fall under the umbrella of digital transformation.

For many businesses and employees, collaboration platforms such as Webex have been the face of their company’s digital transformation. Adoption of the technology has grown sharply since 2020 and is revolutionising not only ways of working but what’s considered to be a workplace. 

With offices re-opened, businesses and employees are presented with a new question: do we want to “return” to pre-pandemic ways of working or do we invest and push ahead with digital transformation and put those platforms onto a firmer technological footing?

Cloud-enabled collaboration is fundamental to sustaining productivity. But so too is the need for consistency across the business. This means giving everyone, everywhere, at any time — and on any device — full access to the apps and services they need to collaborate effectively and securely. It involves investing in platforms and connectivity to support all workplaces, whether on-site or remote. 

It’s with these drivers in mind that we have expanded our broad collaboration portfolio with the full power of Webex. We’ve enriched our existing Webex Meetings offering to include the new Webex Events, Webinar and polling capabilities. And this year we launched Webex Calling and Webex Contact Centre for both UK and international customers, providing them with scalable, unified cloud-based platforms.

Our Webex Calling and Webex Contact Centre solutions leverage the reach of our voice network and the comprehensive support of our managed service to provide feature rich, scalable cloud-based voice and contact centre offerings. Moving voice to the cloud gives organisations the flexibility to enable true hybrid working for their people, whilst eliminating the cost and complexity of legacy infrastructure.

Brian Stout, vice president of global collaboration sales, Cisco, commented: “These launches form the latest chapter of our three-decade long partnership with BT. BT’s new portfolio of Webex services give our joint customers everything they need to collaborate. Together we can now provide customers with a range of scalable enterprise-grade managed cloud collaboration and customer experience services, which have been purpose-built for hybrid work.”

As businesses try to find a balance between ‘everyone and everything from home’ and ‘everyone back in the office’, in true Goldilocks fashion, the middle path feels ‘just right’. Hybrid working is here to stay.    

BT today announced a new programme aimed at reducing business customers’ e-waste by recycling end-of-life equipment and helping them achieve their targets for a circular economy.

It is the latest step in BT Group’s Manifesto pledge to move to circular products, networks and operations by 2030, and then extend this across its supply chain by 2040.

The new programme comes as organisations around the world are transforming their network and IT infrastructure to support the latest multi-cloud deployments. As part of this transformation, BT environmental specialists will work with customers to better understand and map the role of sustainability in a digital world.

Replaced or decommissioned electronic equipment from a customer’s network will be shipped back to Cisco to be responsibly re-used or recycled through its takeback and reuse programme. Up to 99.9 per cent of what is returned will be re-used or recycled.

BT has Cisco-certified environmental specialists in the UK, US, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and Singapore to manage the process. Further countries will be added by end of 2022.

The programme adds to BT’s existing take-back and reuse services for smartphones providing an easy way to upgrade, securely dispose and recycle the devices using a single, complete solution that handles everything.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), 57.4 million tonnes of e-waste was generated during 2021 with only 20 per cent recycled. If left unchecked, this could rise to 120 million tonnes each year. WEF also reported that 70 per cent of hazardous waste deposited in landfills is from e-waste. 

“E-waste is a growing concern and according to WEF now the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. Our customers and partners have made commitments to report on and improve performance in this critical area,” said Hriday Ravindranath, chief product & digital officer at BT’s Global unit. “Creating a more sustainable, circular economy, where we prioritise dematerialisation and avoid equipment going to landfill, is vital. It builds on our leadership in sustainability and will help deliver on our BT Group Manifesto commitments and ambition to connect for good.”

BT and SEACOM today announced a strategic alliance which will help SEACOM further secure its own infrastructure and deliver new networking, security and communications solutions to enterprise customers in Africa.

As a leading Internet connectivity supplier that owns Africa’s most extensive ICT infrastructure, SEACOM will be leveraging BT’s services, vendor relationships and global expertise to expand its portfolio of services aimed at African businesses. Since the launch of its Business division, SEACOM has substantially grown its customer and partnership base to strengthen its offerings and serve customers beyond existing markets.

SEACOM’s customers will benefit from access to BT’s Cloud Security Incident Event Management (SIEM) platform. In today’s business environment data, business applications and users live beyond an organisation's traditional network. SIEM tools provide real-time visibility and monitoring across the organisation's entire IT environment, providing an ideal security overlay to SEACOM's existing ICT solutions.

BT protects some of the world's largest organisations from a myriad of fast-evolving cyber threats with a global network of dedicated 24/7 Security Operations Centres (SOCs). BT’s more than 3000 cyber security experts help customers detect, analyse and quickly respond to cybersecurity incidents as they happen.

“We’re excited to form this strategic alliance with BT and see the combined value of what we bring to our respective markets. With SEACOM’s global network and local presence, and BT’s global reach and expertise, we will be able to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of Cloud, security, and connectivity services that are reliable, scalable, and at the cutting-edge of industry,” says Oliver Fortuin, Group Chief Executive Officer of SEACOM.

Alessandro Adriani, director of system integrators and telecom service providers at BT’s Global unit, said: “We are thrilled to deliver BT’s world-class solutions to SEACOM and to their customers across the African continent. The areas of secure multi-cloud connectivity, next-generation networking solutions and collaboration services are the sweet spot where SEACOM and BT will combine their respective strengths.”

Business customers to benefit from BT’s resilient and secure solutions combined with MTN’s presence on the African continent 

Today, BT and MTN Business announced a strategic alliance which will offer world class security and communications services to business customers across Africa.

New and existing MTN Business customers will get access to a raft of solutions, including cloud-based security and consultancy, managed connectivity, and voice services which will be delivered seamlessly as part of MTN’s Enterprise portfolio, meeting local regulatory and compliance requirements. 

The two leading operators will collaborate closely to enhance each other’s strengths. Customers will benefit from BT’s leading-edge technology combined with MTN’s strong presence on the ground and proximity to customers.

The first offering by BT and MTN will be a Security Operations Centre (SOC)-service, which will enable customers to consistently monitor and improve their cyber-security while preventing, detecting, analysing, and responding to cyber-security incidents. The new service is based on BT’s cloud-based Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) service, which combines the leading technologies with BT’s unparalleled track record in securing leading global organisations.

With a subscription-based model that requires no capital investment, and BT’s accredited security team providing 24x7 monitoring and in-life support, the service will be scaled up and available immediately to MTN’s existing and new customers. The partnership is evidence of MTN Business’s ongoing drive to provide digital solutions, world class services and innovation to businesses across the continent.

MTN will also tap into BT’s wide range of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) solutions, including the provision of wholesale voice, Microsoft Teams voice, and global SIP solutions.

Alessandro Adriani, indirect sales director, BT, said: “The world’s leading banks, healthcare providers, energy companies and governments put their trust in BT to connect and secure their operations. We look forward to working with MTN to bring the same cutting-edge services and solutions to businesses across the African continent.”

“MTN Business continues to deliver innovative solutions to ensure the benefits of the digital economy are expanded to more people and entities across Africa. As this growth happens, however, it is imperative to manage risk. MTN Business is excited about the potential this alliance has to offer and is committed to providing solutions that ensure businesses thrive in the digital economy of the future”, says Wanda Matandela, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at MTN.

ENDS

About the MTN South Africa

Launched in 1994, MTN South Africa is a subsidiary of MTN Group, a leading emerging market operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers. We are inspired by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code ‘MTN’. Our strategy is Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.

Follow MTN:                                      

www.twitter.com/MTNza

www.linkedin.com/company/mtn

Powered by AI technology within Foresight Optima^TM from QiO Technologies, it combines the latest in machine learning with BT Edge Compute devices. Customers can also benefit from BT’s wider digital industries capabilities, including IoT, cloud and secure connectivity, in a single managed solution.

The new solution brings together real-time data from IoT sensors, machinery control settings, databases, external data and energy sources to identify the variables that can be optimised to reduce energy consumption, and can also help improve quality, productivity, and other relevant factors.

The resulting energy efficiency index (EEI) looks at past configurations of the process and compares them to see which were most energy efficient and why. It can also compare sites and equipment to look for best practices.

The solution is hosted on a BT Edge Compute device, which ensures data can be securely processed by the AI close to where it is created. BT securely connects the device to all relevant systems, hardware and assets to give total visibility of the process being measured. Connectivity options include private 5G.

QiO’s AI has been successfully deployed across a wide range of industries, including glass, steel, cement, automotive and others, delivering energy savings between 5-15 per cent. For example, QIO’s deployment at a leading glass manufacturer reduced energy consumption by six per cent and carbon emissions by 21,600 tonnes.

“I believe we have a very important role to play in addressing the climate crisis. By partnering with customers, we can help them achieve net zero carbon emissions,” said Hriday Ravindranath, Chief Product & Digital Officer, Global, BT.

“Data is key,” he added. “Too many organisations still gather carbon data manually, making reporting difficult and limiting its usefulness in improving operations. Our solution collects data securely, and by using QiO’s AI, recommends steps to optimise processes. Moreover, customers can use this data to report on their performance in a standardised way. It’s a great example of how we’re delivering on our Manifesto commitments and connecting for good.”

“Our partnership with BT will deliver the benefit of QiO Foresight Optima^TM to asset heavy and energy intensive industry to help meet sustainability and net zero goals,” said Rick Haythornthwaite, Chairman & Co-Founder, QiO Technologies. “Combined with BT’s industry knowledge and connectivity expertise, we can accelerate delivery of energy efficiency, carbon emissions reduction and cost savings for organisations globally.”

ENDS

About QiO

QiO Technologies is a Gartner Magic Quadrant Industrial IoT AI Software products company delivering Sustainability and Industry4.0 solutions for the industrial sector.

Since 2015, QiO has built a global track record with leading industrial companies by optimising their operations, reducing their energy costs and carbon emissions, delivering 5-15 per cent efficiency improvement, and expediting their sustainability agenda.

QiO’s solutions are available across multiple industries, including aerospace, automotive, steel, glass, cement, oil and gas, healthcare, data centers and shipping

For more information, visit www.qio.io

BT today announced it is building a flexible, resilient and secure network for Deutsche Post DHL Group to support the global logistics powerhouse in its drive to digitalise supply chains in a sustainable way.

The new eight-year agreement continues the long-standing relationship between the firms. It will see BT deploy the latest technology to transform connectivity for DPDHL Group in 27 countries across Europe, including the UK.

Deutsche Post DHL Group is the world’s leading logistics company. It focuses on delivering exceptional customer service and innovative sustainable transport solutions for increasingly digitalised supply chains.

The new network will be a key enabler of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s strategy, helping the company digitalise and automate its business in a sustainable way.

It will be based on the latest technologies that combine the scale and flexibility of the internet with security and resilience to deliver trusted performance. It will be optimised for the cloud, where Deutsche Post DHL Group increasingly hosts its applications and digital services used by 350,000 employees at 1500 sites across the regions.

Sustainability is a fundamental part of the network transformation. BT will audit Deutsche Post DHL Group’s existing network to identify and remove copper cables wherever possible, replacing them with fibre connections to optimise energy consumption.

BT’s networks use 100 per cent renewable electricity and the company employs science-based emission reduction targets across its business.

Anna Spinelli, Chief Procurement Officer, Deutsche Post DHL Group, said: “Our relationship with BT builds on strong foundations and a common purpose to connecting people and improving lives. Thanks to this new long-term agreement, both companies have strategically committed to work closely together to enable the best performing, flexible and sustainable network, globally.” 

Bas Burger, CEO, Global, BT, said: “We are proud to work with Deutsche Post DHL Group, a globally respected logistic company driven by a purpose that mirrors our own. Like BT, it places customer service, the power of technology and sustainability at the heart of its corporate strategy. Our new partnership gives us the opportunity to achieve our respective growth ambitions and contribute towards common goals.”

Our strategic partnership with Microsoft is going mobile. Building on our launch of Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams with BT, BT is forging ahead with Microsoft to develop the next transformational wave in mobile collaboration.

Operator Connect Mobile is a logical evolution of our Operator Connect managed service, which simplifies and streamlines voice collaboration. It will deliver mobile-first experiences for customers looking to get the best from their new hybrid, digital workstyles. It will combine reliable, trusted communications powered by our leading EE mobile network — including 5G — with the power of Microsoft Teams.

During the first year of the pandemic, we saw the number of customers using our managed Teams service almost double. And according to Microsoft, there are nearly 80 million active users of Microsoft Teams Phone.

We’re now investing in our digital service platform and mobile network to provide Teams users with single-number simplicity and the flexibility to work from anywhere.

Our current service offers a simple, secure and resilient way of calling in Teams via BT’s global voice network. Operator Connect Mobile will expand this experience; users will be able to move between devices, add video, share content, record and transcribe and enjoy true integration across their mobile device and Teams. 

What does this mean for the CIO? It opens up new possibilities to streamline support and eliminate redundant or duplicate services across fixed and mobile and reduces the number of devices to manage.

When we launched Operator Connect, I said we were helping customers rip up the rule book for voice. In working with Microsoft to develop Operator Connect Mobile, we’re pushing the boundaries further still to deliver for customers transformational change in mobile workstyles. 

• First-of-a-kind programme to address industry-wide cyber skills gap will see BT employees retrained and placed into cyber security roles
• BT is investing in its people and is offering a life-changing career move
• Digital hands-on curriculum provided by BT’s accredited learning partner CAPSLOCK and developed around common cyber security workplace scenarios

BT is today launching a pilot employee cyber security reskilling programme in collaboration with award-winning cyber security training organisation, CAPSLOCK. The online 16-week course will retrain current BT employees and equip them with the skills needed to pursue a new career in Security – one of the fastest growing parts of BT.

The programme is being launched to help tackle the shortfall of people with cyber security skills, which has become a serious issue for businesses of all types. The Department for Digital Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) estimates that approximately half of UK organisations have a basic cyber skills gap, while at the same time, the ‘Great Resignation’ is signalling a thirst for change amongst the nation’s workforce.

After a rigorous recruitment process, 30 employees have been selected from BT’s Consumer and Global divisions across the UK and will start the scheme today with an in-person induction day in Birmingham. Course participants will secure a new cyber security role at the end of the programme.

BT learners will study an accredited, interactive and team-based learning curriculum. Developed and delivered by CAPSLOCK’s industry experts and academic professionals, it will simulate the full spectrum of real-world cyber problems from managing incidents, detecting malware and social engineering threats, to penetration testing, governance, risk and policy. This career-changing opportunity will provide BT learners with sought after skills and up to five certifications.

Perceptions of the cyber security profession unfortunately remain centred around those with a set of highly specialised technical skills. The reality is that the field needs a broad array of skills and experts to fill a range of roles, many of which rely on transferable skills that some people already possess or, importantly, can be easily developed through a programme such as CAPSLOCK.

Although BT will offer learners a number of roles suited to both technical and non-technical skillsets, it is the harder-to-fill more technical roles that this programme will address. Jobs available will include cyber operations, threat intelligence and technical design and will be located in Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Glasgow.

What’s more, during the course CAPSLOCK will provide dedicated learner support including one-to-one professional coaching, careers counselling and mental health first aiders.

The new launch of the programme reinforces BT’s investment in its people across the organisation and its commitment to training, development, and now reskilling to future-proof its employees’ careers. Learners will also be paired up with BT cyber mentors to ensure they are successful in their career transition.

Once graduated, BT’s new cyber employees will become a Protector, contributing to the protection of BT, its 30 million UK customers, governments, and critical national infrastructure.

Kevin Brown, Managing Director, BT Security said: “There simply aren’t enough people with the necessary skills to fill the amount of cyber security jobs available. The ‘cyber skills gap’ is a hot topic in the security industry, and this pilot reskilling programme with CAPSLOCK is a key part of how we’re working to develop the next generation of cyber security professionals. The scheme is all about opening doors for those who might not have seen an obvious way into a security career, and we’re welcoming people who have different skillsets, backgrounds and ages as we’re really looking for a diverse range of talent across our security team.”

Dr Andrea Cullen, Co-founder at CAPSLOCK said: “Our mission in partnership with BT is to enable anybody with potential to enrol and change careers into cyber security. Importantly, we want to change perceptions that it is not just technical skills that are required to do well in this sector. The reality is that the field needs a broad array of skills and experts to fill a range of roles, many of which rely on transferable skills that many people already possess, and the holistic cyber skills which are developed throughout the CAPSLOCK course. With the right attitude and determination, anybody – no matter their past experience, education or age – has the potential to start a career in IT, technology, or cyber security.”

-ENDS-

About BT Security:

As a global leader of managed security services, we help customers thrive in a digital world by delivering world-class security solutions. With operations in over 180 countries and a team of 3000 security experts around the globe, BT supports some of the world’s largest companies, nation states and critical national infrastructures.

We protect our networks against around 6500 cyber-attacks every day, and this deep expertise combined with our global reach gives us a unique perspective on the cyber landscape. We’re constantly analysing, predicting and responding to the latest threats, and we leverage the latest developments in technology and innovation to protect the UK’s infrastructure, business and citizens.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/security

 Further useful links:

• BT Security Careers Page
• Who are the Protectors? – YouTube
• Meet the Real Protectors - YouTube

About CAPSLOCK:

CAPSLOCK is an award-winning educational organisation that delivers cyber security bootcamps online, with no up-front costs. They help adults fully re-skill to become qualified cyber professionals in as little as four months, by removing barriers to career-changing education whilst bringing greater diversity into the cyber security sector. CAPSLOCK are interested in a learner's potential rather than in their past, so there are no academic entry requirements needed to enrol. Their graduates have been hired by the BBC, ITV, Allianz, BT, Dyson, PwC and many more. In 2021, they were named the 'Most Innovative Cyber Security SME of the Year' by the UK government.

^{IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market.  The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the circles.} 
 

• BT named as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: European Managed Security Services 2022 Vendor Assessment
• Report recognises BT’s security capabilities, research and investment, and collaborative relationships with customers, vendors and academia
• The positioning follows BT’s investment in cyber risk assessment company Safe Security and the launch of transformational Eagle-i platform in 2021

BT was today named as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: European Managed Security Services 2022 Vendor Assessment report. BT’s security team provides solutions to consumers, governments and businesses around the world, and protects the company’s global network against around 200,000 cyber-attacks per month. The placement reflects BT’s “combination of pan-European network assets and proven experience and capabilities in security”.

BT was recognised for its ability to seamlessly integrate its security portfolio with wider network and cloud solutions, and for its wider emphasis on security innovation and partnerships across leading academic and research institutions. Its recent investment in Safe Security was also highlighted, as their risk assessment and prediction capabilities were seen as becoming increasingly important in light of recent supply chain attacks such as SolarWinds.

Last year, BT launched its transformational new cyber defence platform ‘Eagle-i', which incorporates AI to advance the speed and capability of its security operations. The IDC MarketScape report stated that the use of proprietary technology in Eagle-i, and the platform’s ability to draw on threat intelligence from BT’s extensive European network infrastructure, “makes it hard to match precisely by other MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers).”

Joel Stradling, Research Director, European Security at IDC, said. “BT is a Leader for MSS in Europe thanks to its extensive routes to market, its significant footprint of regional security operations centres, and having qualified local security practitioners in place. Whilst BT operates globally, it is in Europe where it possesses its deepest threat landscape intelligence and customer intimacy. BT’s investment in Safe Security allows BT to layer on risk quantification and breach prediction capabilities along with visibility and control features that are available in its Eagle-i platform into a single integrated fully managed service for European customers."

Kevin Brown, Managing Director of Security at BT, said: “With the market becoming more competitive every year, we’re delighted to be recognised by the IDC MarketScape as a leader for MSS in Europe. We know the security industry and our customers rightly place a huge amount of value on IDC MarketScape assessments, which provide an objective and insightful view of organisations’ current and long-term capabilities. This positioning is a great validation of not only our strategy, investments and portfolio, but more importantly of our fantastic team across the globe who underpin everything we do.”

The IDC MarketScape report is based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative assessment of the region’s leading security organisations, which evaluates both direct company submissions and their customers’ feedback. The report judges both their current capabilities and expected future success in the marketplace.

For more information on the IDC MarketScape: European Managed Security Services 2022 Vendor Assessment [Ref: EUR146178820, January 2022] report, visit the BT website.

Under the terms of the agreement, BT hybrid cloud services will be based on Rackspace Technology’s cutting-edge solutions, which the company will deploy in BT data centres along with its Rackspace Fabric management layer.

Customers will benefit from the integration of Rackspace Technology’s cloud management expertise and automation, analytics, and AI tools with BT’s world-leading network and security capabilities.

This will enhance customer experience and enable BT to further evolve its managed cloud services.

Bas Burger, CEO of BT’s Global unit, said: “This innovative partnership with Rackspace Technology accelerates our plans to build a world-class hybrid cloud portfolio. It will deliver outstanding experiences for our customers and ensure they benefit from the best services, backed by our partner’s leadership in cloud.”

Kevin Jones, CEO of Rackspace Technology, said, “This exciting partnership with BT validates Rackspace Technology’s expertise in helping large, multinational enterprises in their cloud transformation journey and provides both companies with unique industry positioning. It highlights the enduring long-term value of a hybrid cloud model, as BT customers will now have access to the best of public cloud, private cloud, and traditional hosted environments alongside the speed, security, and resilience of BT’s worldwide networks.”

The companies have also committed to extend their partnership in the future to create new joint cloud offerings for their customers.

BT today announced it is working with ABB to elevate its internationally managed communications infrastructure to new levels of performance, choice and agility to support the company’s new operating model. It follows the signing of a new contract between the two companies.

The new contract builds on an existing agreement, signed in 2014, under which BT consolidated and optimised the leading global technology company’s international communications infrastructure. Working with ABB’s Information Systems team, BT will now transform the network infrastructure to create a sustainable, resilient and secure core platform featuring a highly automated and data-driven managed service.

Security is a top priority for ABB as it executes its cloud strategy, which includes consolidating data centres and moving more applications and data into the cloud. BT will enable ABB’s cloud-first ambitions with an end-to-end, compliant, multi-layered cyber security environment. It will deploy, manage and monitor over 1,100 end-point devices, continuously verifying every device, user and application accessing the network.

The communications infrastructure will reliably and securely connect people, devices and machines at over 600 facilities in 60 countries. Using the latest software-defined networking technology, it will offer ABB a choice of connectivity options for each site, including 5G access.

It will also provide ABB with a new software-driven platform delivered over Wifi 6 to enable mobility and digital manufacturing concepts, such as robotics, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data technologies at production sites. Both companies have committed to a co-innovation fund as part of the contract.

By choosing BT, ABB is ensuring its network is delivered by a provider using 100 per cent renewable electricity globally with a commitment to achieving net zero emissions across all its operations by 2030.

“ABB’s world-class technology and digital capabilities are deeply embedded in our DNA. Maintaining and improving our innovation, technology and digital leadership is a strategic priority across the company,” said Alec Joannou, Group CIO, ABB. “BT is a great fit for our Information Systems function. As our trusted partner, it has helped us keep pace with a dynamic digital landscape and is now evolving our communications infrastructure to support our digital ambitions.”

“The cloud-first network and digital managed services we’re delivering will further enhance agility across ABB’s businesses,” said Bas Burger, CEO, Global, BT. “The unique trust between our two companies empowers us to push ahead as we connect ABB’s people, devices and machines in a sustainable and responsible way.” 

It’s a plan that represents many billions of pounds of commercial investment. At the same time, however, commercial plans do not extend to every corner of the country. In the most remote parts of the UK the business case for traditional, commercial deployments will not work.

The Government’s Universal Service Obligation is one response to that problem. It means that customers have the right to request a broadband connection in excess of 10mbps, if one didn’t already exist.

BT (and in Hull, KCom) are the designated providers of this service, and there is some encouraging news in our latest progress update published today. We’re now building connections to around 6,000 homes under the USO. We’re also making it easier for others to join in. The terms of the scheme require customers to fund any connection costs that exceed the £3,400-per-household that BT will contribute. Rather than requiring the full build costs to be raised up front, we will now start the work as soon as a single household is willing to pay a share of those costs. We think that should see more fibre reach more people more quickly (although importantly, additional customers will still be expected to contribute their share of the costs before they are connected).

We hope the USO can also have a wider benefit – making more people aware of the connectivity they already have and could benefit from. Over time, new technology is creating more options. Ofcom had originally calculated that around 610,000 premises lacked a decent fixed broadband connection. Now, EE’s 4G network can provide a USO-level service to around two thirds of those households. The growing availability of Fixed Wireless Access broadband across all providers (using mobile networks to create home WiFi) means Ofcom believes there are now fewer than 135,000 premises with speeds below 10Mbs.

All of this means that, for hundreds of thousands of families who have been without great service, things have got a lot better in the past five years. At the same time, we still cannot deliver a good connection to everyone, and the USO – which requires funding contributions from customers – will never be a solution for those communities in the final fraction of the population where build costs can exceed £100,000.

We remain legally obliged to send out quotes to customers, even when the costs are, frankly, ridiculous. Those costs reflect the economic realities of carrying out complex civil engineering works in remote parts of the country, but it’s no surprise that customers can’t or won’t pay such sizeable amounts.

The Government also recognises this. In a recent call for evidence DCMS said that “it could be prohibitively expensive for the Government to fund fixed line ‘gigabit capable’ infrastructure up to the final 1% of UK premises.” Fresh thinking is required to think through how to connect those for whom even the USO won’t help.

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

BT and OneWeb have agreed terms for a new Distribution Partner Agreement, with OneWeb to provide Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communication services across BT Group.* This builds on an initial Memorandum of Understanding signed in July and means BT is testing how LEO satellite technology integrates with its existing terrestrial capabilities to meet the communications needs of customers. On successful completion, BT will commence the first live trials with customers from early next year. The partnership will span a growing range of connectivity solutions around the world as well as specific opportunities for the UK market.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “I am thrilled to see the UK at the forefront of this emerging technology thanks to the Government’s investment in OneWeb – a crucial part of our plans to cement our status as a global science and technology superpower.”

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “The agreement between OneWeb and BT will help bring fast and reliable global connectivity, from the Highlands to the Himalayas. I'm delighted these two British companies have joined forces to research the technological benefits of working together, and I look forward to exploring how this could play a role in our mission to put hard-to-reach areas in the digital fast lane."

Philip Jansen, Chief Executive of BT Group, said: “Space is an emerging and enormous digital opportunity, and this is an important step towards harnessing its potential for BT’s customers across the globe. We will put OneWeb’s technology through its paces in our UK labs with the goal of delivering live trials in early 2022. Delivered securely and at scale, satellite solutions will be an important part of our plans to expand connectivity throughout the UK and globally, and to further diversify the range of services we can offer our customers.”

OneWeb’s Chief Executive Officer Neil Masterson said: “BT has taken the lead in the recognition of LEO satellite’s advantage. We are delighted as this agreement with BT Group represents an important strategic partnership for OneWeb as we continue to make progress towards our operational launch. We are excited to be playing such a key role in improving the resilience of the overall telecom infrastructure in the UK. OneWeb’s connectivity platform will help bridge the last digital divides across the country and enhance the nation’s digital infrastructure.”

OneWeb is expected to deliver global coverage by June 2022 through a constellation of 648 LEO satellites and is poised to deliver services from the North Pole to the 50^th parallel, covering the entire United Kingdom, later this year. The new partnership supports BT’s wider network ambition, set out in July this year, to deliver digital solutions across the entire UK by 2028, through a combination of an expanded network and ‘on demand,’ requestable solutions anywhere beyond. In building a converged, software-defined network, BT will leverage and integrate both terrestrial and non-terrestrial technologies to deliver on the goal of seamless, ubiquitous connectivity.

This agreement marks a clear path towards the first LEO solutions being available for customers within a year. As the next step, BT will test capabilities in its Bristol lab to demonstrate how they integrate with existing services. Current capacity levels within OneWeb satellites mean initial trials will focus on its role as a supplementary, low latency backhaul solution to sites where additional capacity or a back-up solution is required, and to deliver improved resilience for business customers. On successful completion, BT will begin early adopter trials for UK and international customers, expected early next year. As OneWeb grows their capacity, the list of future use cases could also widen, opening up the opportunity to explore the use of satellite for IoT backhaul and Fixed Wireless Access in rural areas.

The work with OneWeb shows the capabilities being developed by UK businesses in the pioneering area of space technology and follows the UK Government’s recently published National Space Strategy, which recognises the enormous strategic opportunities on offer. BT, which boasts a heritage of nearly 60 years in space and satellite communication innovation, continues to explore a diverse range of partners across all its services, including space, to ensure the latest and best connectivity solutions are available for customers.

Ends

*The deal encompasses BT’s Enterprise, Consumer and Global units, serving UK and multinational organisations.

Contacts

BT OneWeb

CC Group PR Finsbury Glover Hering

Richard Fogg +44 7887 845236 oneweb-lon@finsbury.com

Anais Merlin +44 7932526514

BTconsumer@ccgrouppr.com

About BT 

BT Group is the UK’s leading telecommunications and network provider and a leading provider of global communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities in the UK include the provision of fixed voice, mobile, broadband and TV (including Sport) and a range of products and services over converged fixed and mobile networks to consumer, business and public sector customers. For its global customers, BT provides managed services, security and network and IT infrastructure services to support their operations all over the world. BT consists of four customer-facing units: Consumer, Enterprise, Global and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Openreach, which provides access network services to over 650 communications provider customers who sell phone, broadband and Ethernet services to homes and businesses across the UK.

For the year ended 31 March 2021, BT Group’s reported revenue was £21,331m with reported profit before taxation of £1,804m.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.  

For more information, visit www.bt.com/about 

About OneWeb

OneWeb is a global communications network powered from space, headquartered in London, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user terminals to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to the IoT future and a pathway to 5G for everyone, everywhere. Find out more at http://www.oneweb.world

• Relentless growth and ever-changing nature of the threat landscape dictates a new, proactive approach to cyber security
• Customers to benefit from advances in AI and automation, combined with BT’s networking expertise, in transformational cyber defence platform
• Eagle-i builds on BT’s recent security investment and partner ecosystem to address issues such as a more than 50% increase in malware traffic over the last 6 months

Business and public sector bodies continue to face an exponential growth in the volume and complexity of cyber attacks, with new research from BT identifying a more than 50% increase in malware traffic over the last 6 months. Alongside a global shortage of skilled security professionals, organisations around the world are struggling to keep a lid on evolving cyber threats and maintain their defences.

In response, BT is launching its most sophisticated cyber defence platform yet — Eagle-i. It combines BT’s industry-leading network insight with advances in AI and automation to predict, detect and neutralise security threats before they get a chance to inflict damage. The platform has been designed to self-learn from the intelligence provided by each intervention, so that it constantly improves its threat knowledge and dynamically refines how it protects customers across a multi-cloud environment.

Eagle-i will utilise an AI layer to provide real-time detection of issues and intelligent automated responses, enabling users to significantly speed up their reaction to security issues and outpace their cyber threats. It is also uniquely able to integrate with technologies from across the security ecosystem so that organisations can both optimise their capabilities and spot any holes in their defences without having to replace existing investments. The platform will underpin how BT protects its global operations and provide phased enhancements and increased functionalities for all BT’s managed security services.

Kevin Brown, managing director, BT Security, said: “Security is now at the top of the boardroom and government agenda – yet many organisations are seeing their cyber risks increase to unmanageable levels. This situation demands a new, proactive approach. Eagle-i leverages the latest advances in AI and automation to continually monitor, learn and evolve so customers can stay a step ahead of cyber criminals.”

For more information on Eagle-i, click here.

Today, we’re marking Microsoft’s announcement of the general availability of Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams with the launch of an entirely new BT-branded global managed voice service.  

It’s at the cutting edge of future voice services innovation. Delivered directly through Teams, it securely integrates telephony, engineered for quality of service, with the very latest in digital collaboration.

For customers, it will provide pace, simplicity and reach, helping them accelerate their digital transformation by enabling new productive, hybrid workstyles built around Teams.

Voice and telephony services have been around for a long time. If you’re a CIO, the chances are you’ve got a mixed bag of voice technologies and services, fixed and mobile, spread across your organisation which may differ from country to country or even site by site. At the same time, your colleagues’ use of Teams has been soaring since the start of the pandemic.

At BT, we’ve seen the number of customers using our managed Teams service almost double in the past year. And according to Microsoft, total calls on Teams surpassed 1 billion in a single month for the first time earlier this year.

Having seen the benefits of digital tools and workstyles, your colleagues now expect to use them to their full potential. They prefer the ergonomics of simply clicking to talk via the Teams app than using a separate phone or voice service. They assume they’re secure and expect a reliable, quality service. And this is as true in the office as at home — and on the move.

Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams with BT offers a simple and secure way of calling in Teams via BT’s global voice network backed with assured end to end service controls for high quality, low latency voice conversations. It’s an entirely new way for multinational organisations operating in different countries to choose and enable their voice services and it doesn’t matter if you’re an existing BT customer or not.

Ripping up the rule book for an established technology like voice is never easy. When you do, it’s good to have experts on hand — two great enterprise technology, cloud and security brands recognised as leaders in their respective fields. It also helps if your service provider has already invested in a technology platform to remove the complexity of change and offer simple choices.

As BT and Microsoft look forward to delivering Operator Connect for customers across the world, Omar Abbosh, corporate vice president of industry solutions at Microsoft, said: “Operator Connect with BT calling plans is the first step in the realisation of our new strategic partnership with BT and meeting the needs and demands of today’s customers.”

BT today announced a new capability to help multinational customers deliver improved experiences for users of their corporate applications and digital services. Cisco ThousandEyes Cloud and Internet Intelligence platform helps customers’ IT teams monitor end-to-end application performance across the entire digital delivery ecosystem, from users all the way to the cloud. It rapidly identifies faults and performance issues, wherever they are, so they can be fixed before they disrupt services and user experience.

The solution is powered by ThousandEyes globally distributed and local vantage points. These are natively embedded on customers’ Cisco network equipment* and can also run on virtual machines and other types of equipment. BT monitors and controls the solution using Cisco technology integrated into its own leading-edge service management platform to deliver always-on proactive monitoring and service assurance of digital experience.

Customers benefit from BT’s deep Cisco expertise and global availability of service teams offering around-the-clock, 365 days-a-year monitoring support across the network underlay, overlay and application layers as well as customer-dedicated technical consultants. Customers can choose from three services levels, from fully BT-managed and controlled to in-house operation by their own IT team.

Modern applications are more distributed and modular than ever before, powered by a hybrid underlying infrastructure combining public cloud, Internet and private networks. This hybrid approach helps organisations boost agility and reduce costs but introduces complexity and third-party dependencies. When something goes wrong, faults are difficult to find and can result in costly outages, sometimes with regulatory implications.

“Troubleshooting poor user experience is a huge pain for customers. The longer the outage, the bigger the consequences for the business,” said Scott Cowling, network solutions director, BT. “Working with our partner Cisco, we’ve launched a managed service based on ThousandEyes to cut through the complexity of modern connectivity, deliver digital resilience and enable customer success.”

“Major outages create headlines but routine technical outages and thousands upon thousands of other micro-outages happen on a daily basis and can present enterprises with significant brand and operational risks too,” said Craig Vario, global head of channels, Cisco ThousandEyes. “Now more than ever, the Internet dictates the experience of customers and employees alike. That’s why we’re building on our deep partnership with BT. Its ThousandEyes managed service will help enterprises enjoy the benefits of hybrid cloud networking while providing users with excellent and resilient digital experiences.”

*Cisco network equipment with ThousandEyes vantage points natively embedded include the Catalyst 9300 and 9400 series Switches, Catalyst 8300 and 8200 series Edge Platforms, and Cisco 4000 series Integrated Service Routers.

With the number and impact of cyber attacks continuing to increase rapidly, BT has today announced a multi-million pound investment in Safe Security, an industry-leading cyber risk management firm. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, their SAFE (‘Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises’) platform allows organisations to take a health check of their existing defences and understand their likelihood of suffering a major cyber attack.

Industry analysis estimates that the cost of global cyber crime reached over US$1 trillion in 2020, as criminals exploited seismic changes in everyday life to target both individuals and organisations of all sizes. With high-profile recent incidents impacting critical areas such as energy infrastructure and medical care, businesses and governments are under huge pressure to objectively assess how protected they are against the latest forms of cyber attack.

The investment will allow BT to combine the SAFE platform with its world-leading managed security services to provide customers with a real time view of how safe they are against an incredibly fast-moving cyber threat landscape. SAFE is unique in calculating a financial cost to customers’ risks and giving actionable insight on the steps that can be taken to address them. The platform ultimately enables organisations to surgically target gaps in their defences, and already protects multiple Fortune 500 companies and governments around the world.

Philip Jansen, Chief Executive of BT, said: “Cyber security is now at the top of the agenda for businesses and governments, who need to be able to trust that they’re protected against increasing levels of attack. Adding SAFE to BT’s proactive, predictive security services will give customers an enhanced view of their threat level, and rapidly pinpoint specific actions needed to strengthen their defences. Already one of the world’s leading providers in a highly fragmented security market, this investment is a clear sign of BT’s ambition to grow further.”

Saket Modi, Co-founder and CEO of Safe Security, said: “We’re delighted to be working with a proven global security leader in BT. Their investment and strategic partnership with Safe Security will further accelerate our vision of making SAFE scores the industry standard for measuring and mitigating cyber risks. By aligning BT’s global reach and capabilities with SAFE’s ability to provide real-time visibility on cyber risk posture, we are going to fundamentally change how cyber security is measured and managed across the globe.”

As part of this investment, BT will be granted exclusive rights to use and sell SAFE to businesses and public sector bodies in the UK, and will incorporate the platform within its wider global portfolio. In recognition of its experience in providing security solutions to organisations across the world, BT will be designated as the recommended global partner for improving a customer’s SAFE score. BT will also work collaboratively with Safe Security to develop future products.

The transaction, first announced on 10 December 2020, has been cleared by the Italian Competition Authority and includes customer support for the SME business unit delivered from the BT’s contact centre in Palermo.

BT will retain a strong presence in Italy serving large enterprises and multinational companies, including access points to its global network.

The transaction will enable TIM to expand its range of services for the digital transformation of the public administration and strengthen its offering of solutions tailored for the SME market.

BT today announced it is upgrading the global network of leading commercial explosives and blasting systems provider Orica with the latest cloud-optimised technology and cyber security solutions. The upgrade is part of Orica’s digital transformation and will support the migration of applications and services to the cloud.

Orica, which operates in more than 100 countries, utilises innovative, market-leading digital solutions built on cutting-edge technology and automation to create safer, more productive blast outcomes for customers.

The new managed network service, based on Cisco SD-WAN technology, will provide secure and flexible connectivity for the company’s more than 13,000 employees, many of whom work remotely on customer sites around the world.

For Orica’s IT team, BT will provide a single dashboard with comprehensive visibility of network traffic flows, infrastructure monitoring, applications performance management tools, end-user experience monitoring, security and event logging, and inventory discovery. Wrapped in ITIL service management, the dashboard will provide the capability to optimise an individual application’s performance to match business needs.

BT will also help Orica enhance cyber security across the new network and extend it into the manufacturing environment. BT’s security experts will deploy and manage a range of security solutions, including next generation firewalls from Cisco, and an enhanced remote access solution for Orica’s mobile workforce.

Angus Melbourne, Orica’s chief technology officer, said: “BT has been our trusted network partner for five years. We considered many technology and service options for our digital transformation and eventually chose BT as it offers a fully managed service built around our preferred technical solution covering Orica’s global locations. Our network transformation will not only result in improved service, but also reduce the cost of our global network.”

Joris van Oers, managing director, resources, manufacturing and logistics & Europe, Global, BT, said: “It’s great to see our two long-standing relationships continue to bear fruit. Firstly, we are delighted to continue supporting our innovative and dynamic customer Orica, and help their teams conduct their jobs safely, productively and sustainably. And secondly, we are drawing on the strength of our global partnership with Cisco to deliver the latest networking solutions required for our customer’s successful digital transformation.”

BT today announced a five-year contract with Alstom, one of the world’s leading providers of systems, equipment and services for the mobility sector, to upgrade its global network with the latest cloud-optimised connectivity solutions.

The new network will connect Alstom’s operations at 350 locations in 60 countries, including manufacturing plants, offices, depots and data centres. It will provide agile and secure access to company applications and services used by Alstom’s employees[i], of which 24,000 have been working remotely during the pandemic.

Working with BT consultants using the Smart Transformation process, which aligns the right solutions to business needs, Alstom chose a managed network service based on the VMware SD-WAN solution. It will be delivered by BT over its new digital service platform.

The service will help Alstom accelerate its “move-to-cloud” strategy. It will improve the company’s visibility of network traffic allowing it to optimise end-user experience. It also includes a range of fully-managed or co-managed options giving Alstom the flexibility to take control of individual aspects of change management.

Nicolas Vurpillot, network and network security director, Alstom, said: “The move to internet as our primary network is part of our strategic plan: Alstom in Motion. It will provide secure, scalable and reliable access to applications while reducing cost and improving co-management. Following a thorough assessment of available SD-WAN technologies, BT demonstrated willingness and capability to innovate, enhance service levels and partner with Alstom to help us achieve our strategic goals.”

Joris van Oers, managing director, resources, manufacturing and logistics & Europe, Global, BT, said: “We’ve been connecting Alstom’s global operations since 2015 and are delighted to have been chosen again. Alstom will benefit from the very latest VMware SD-WAN service combined with our trusted security, high reliability and a range of management options. It is a great example of how our new generation of managed connectivity services give customers choice and flexibility when planning for their digital future.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

VMware and VMware SD-WAN are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

[i] The contract does not cover operations of the newly acquired Bombardier Transportation.

BT announced today an extension of its long-term strategic agreement with Syngenta, one of the world’s leading agricultural technology companies.

Syngenta helps improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. As part of the extended strategic agreement, BT will support Syngenta’s requirements for flexible and adaptable consumption of services covering advanced networking, connectivity and security solutions, while aiming to create additional opportunities for joint innovation.

Through highly reliable services that enable collaboration and communication, BT will help Syngenta Crop Protection and Syngenta Seeds focus on being a market leader with world-class science and innovative crop solutions that help farmers sustainably grow more from less.

BT will continue to provide a full range of networking and communication services, as well as cloud security, to support Syngenta’s operations across more than 400 locations in 60 countries. These include key agriculture markets in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, China, India, Egypt and Ukraine.

In addition, this renewal provides the foundation for an ongoing relationship and potential to explore new ways BT could enable Syngenta’s growth and sustainability ambitions.

Nadja Risse, director of healthcare and life sciences at Global, BT, said: “Since 2000, BT has been a key enabler of Syngenta’s successful digital journey and we are honoured to continue our long-standing relationship with one of the most innovative global leaders in the sector. As we launch more and more digitally native services in our portfolio, BT will look to help empower Syngenta to achieve its ambitious sustainability goals and unlock opportunities to transform farmers’ lives through data and science.”

BT today announced a new, multi-year agreement with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) to continue to be the company’s network partner in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Under the agreement, BT will work to transform WBA’s networking and enhance the customer and colleague experience with the deployment of next-generation technology.

Steve Rempel, senior vice president and international chief information officer, WBA, said: “We chose BT because we share a focus on delivering standout customer experiences. Our digital plans demand full visibility, control and security of applications and data crossing our network so we can join up in-store and online experiences for customers and colleagues alike.”

Joris van Oers, managing director, resources, manufacturing and logistics & Europe, BT, said: “Connectivity is central in the new digital environment WBA is creating for its customers. Our managed network will provide secure and reliable access to applications and data in the cloud and support innovation by providing agility to deploy new services faster.”

BT’s network will provide faster, more responsive access to applications and data and simplify the roll out of new customer service innovations as part of WBA’s digital transformation.

The new, managed service will support the shift of business applications and data in the UK and Republic of Ireland to the cloud and will enhance the customer and colleague experience by improving the reliability and performance of connectivity in the company’s stores, warehouses, distribution centres and support offices.

Designed with joined-up, omnichannel retailing in mind, the network provides WBA with the agility to respond to new opportunities in a fast-changing market. The solution includes the transformation of voice services across Boots UK and Republic of Ireland stores, cyber security to protect customers, colleagues and devices, and extending mobile connectivity – with plans to include 5G – for service resilience and to rapidly expand capacity to support peaks in demand.

BT Security has published the results of a global survey which canvassed the opinions of over 7000 business leaders, employees and consumers from across the world. The research, conducted in partnership with Davies Hickman Partners, found that in a rapidly changing business environment, the role of the CISO has hugely expanded in its scope and responsibilities. With the research also identifying security as the top priority for businesses after coronavirus, CISOs have never been more integral to business operations.

With this in mind, the research’s finding that 76% of business executives rate their organisation’s IT strategy as excellent or good at protecting against cybersecurity threats seems like positive news. Yet in spite of this, the research also found that this might be misplaced confidence which is leading to complacency, with 84% of executives also saying that their organisation had suffered from data loss or a security incident in the last two years – highlighting the enormity of the task that CISOs face.

The research uncovered a number of interesting reasons why this might be happening. Less than half of respondents said they had definitely received training on data security, while only one in three were fully aware of the policies and procedures they should take to protect the security of their organisation’s data. As a result, a number of concerning behavioural trends were seen, with 45% of employees saying they’d suffered a security incident at work and not reported it, and perhaps even more worryingly, 15% saying they had given their work log-in and password to others in the organisation.

Regular cyber security training for employees is critical, not least because of the increasing importance that consumers are placing on security. The research found that nearly two thirds of consumers would recommend an organisation that makes a big effort to keep their data safe, and a similar number said that security is more important than convenience when choosing who to buy from. The capacity for security to act as a brand differentiator becomes even clearer with the finding that only 16% of consumers strongly trust large organisations to protect their personal data.

In light of these trends and attitudes, the role of the CISO is simultaneously more critical and more multifaceted than even before. Their job is no longer just to protect against threats and manage risk; they are now expected to play a crucial role in managing brand perception, employee engagement and the strategic adoption of new technologies. In spite of this, the research found that less than half of executives and employees could put a name to their CISO (or equivalent), with a similar ratio of respondents saying that their CISO doesn’t actively communicate with the rest of the organisation.

Kevin Brown, Managing Director of BT Security, said: “This report provides a number of clear examples of how CISOs are now expected to provide leadership across an ever-growing number of areas. The huge increase in the pace of digital transformation during 2020 has not only further erased the traditional parameters of the role, but also intensified the scale and complexity of threats to protect against. As a result, CISOs must ensure that they have the visibility that not only makes them the first port of call for security incidents, but also ensures they’re placed at the heart of strategic decision making and planning.”

Craig Jones, Director of Cybercrime at INTERPOL, commented: “The range and scale of cybercrime faced by governments, businesses and individuals is constantly growing. We firmly believe in working collaboratively across the public and private sector to make cyberspace a safer place, and this very much includes CISOs, who are often the first line of defence in responding to cyberattacks. This research from BT shows clearly the increasing responsibilities and expectations placed on the CISO today, and a number of clear steps they can take to improve their protections and our collective resilience.”

The full report, which also provides a number of recommendations around how organisations can improve their security posture, is available to view here: https://www.globalservices.bt.com/en/insights/whitepapers/cisos-under-the-spotlight

For further information on how BT can secure your organisation, visit: www.bt.com/security  

BT announced today it has signed a contract with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide communication services to their embassies and consulates in 120 countries using the latest software defined networking technology.

The contract is valued at 33 million euros over the initial period of four years, with an option to be extended to a total duration of up to nine years. It was won in a public, EU-wide tender procedure.

The new network services will form the foundation for the ministry’s digital transformation journey and will enable secure collaboration internally as well as with external partners. Users will benefit from secure access to data and cloud services.

Joris van Oers, managing director for Europe at BT, said: “I am really proud that the Dutch government has put their trust in us to connect their embassies and consulates around the world. We can build on many years of experience serving public sector customers such as EU institutions and governments in many countries, and we are happy to support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on their journey into a more digital future.”

Notes to editors

BT will provide the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs with WAN, LAN and Wireless LAN services. By using latest software-defined networking technology, the agile infrastructure will support the increasing consumption of cloud services. The contract was initially closed for a duration of four years, with the option to be extended to a total duration of up to nine years.

This is also a symbolic moment for BT’s Global unit as it draws a line under its first wave of transformation and plans to pivot to growth — in a sector where growth has proved elusive.

In September 2018 we told the market that we would do three things: radically reposition our business around our core markets, build value in strategically selected areas of growth and reduce risk while delivering higher returns. This amounted to a plan to simplify our operations, which we did. Partly by focusing on a core set of multinational customers, partly by simplifying and modernising our portfolio and partly by defining a clear path to predictable financial performance and ultimately double digit returns on our capital employed.

Divesting many of our purely domestic operations was part of this plan and we have now done this in over twenty countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Singapore, China and 15 countries in Latin America. Most of the divested entities have become part of our global ecosystem of partners and channels. And the colleagues moving to new employers, such as Evolutio in Spain, Sincenet in Latin America and Computacenter in France, remain part of our constellation of expertise – now at one-step removed – and our circle of gratitude for their decades of service.

The journey does not end there as these targeted divestments help accelerate the execution of BT’s Global strategy. If anything, the focus on streamlining our global business on the rapidly evolving technology needs of multinationals and governments around the world has become even sharper.

We have scale, delivering services in over 180 countries as we did before – this time with fewer but bigger customers, a leaner but smarter digital product portfolio and higher productivity. In short, we are priming ourselves for growth – profitable, sustainable growth on the back of a new business model, a digitally native technology stack, a recently reinvigorated reputation for standout customer experience and a highly skilled workforce.

Finding the right moment to move into growth mode is more of an art than a science. It depends on as many external as internal factors — and knowing exactly when to press the button for growth is a tough call. As we conclude the first wave of our transformation, we know that there is more to do, more to learn and more to deliver for our customers in these challenging times.

Getting into good shape is just one step on the way. Growing in the right areas at the right speed and with the right focus is the next. It is a Goldilocks moment and that is where we are heading alongside our customers, our strategic partners and our teams around the world.

Bas Burger CEO Global

BT and TIM today announced they have signed a preliminary agreement on the acquisition of selected BT business units in Italy serving public administration and Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) by TIM.

The public administration business unit provides communications services to a number of ministries and agencies of the national government, as well as regional and local governments. The SME business unit offers connectivity and cloud services throughout Italy.

The planned transaction will enable TIM to expand its supply of communications and connectivity services, accelerating digitalisation of the public affairs at central, regional and local levels in the country. With the planned integration of the SME business unit, TIM would further diversify the offer of secure and efficient ICT and cloud solutions for small and medium businesses.

The agreement also includes customer support for the SME business unit, delivered by BT’s contact centre in Palermo.

The planned transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit as it sharpens its focus on delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational organisations. BT will retain a strong presence in Italy serving large enterprises and multinational companies, including access points to its global network and data centres.

The two business units included in the planned transaction generated revenues of approximately €90 million during the fiscal year ended in March 2020.

The planned transaction is subject to consultations with trade unions and regulatory clearance.

It is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

BT today announced it is to deploy new software defined wide area network (SD-WAN) for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) in Europe.

The new SD-WAN will provide the automotive firm with an agile network optimised for the cloud. It will help FCA accelerate innovation by providing more choice and control over how the network is managed. This will allow the company to create the optimal user experience for people, devices and machines in 95 sites including 11 manufacturing plants, as they access corporate applications and data.

The cost-effective and agile solution will be deployed over the top of a hybrid infrastructure offering the company a choice of connectivity tailored for each application, such as the Internet for low-priority purposes like web browsing or BT’s global MPLS network for sensitive data and critical applications.

Joris van Oers, managing director, resources, manufacturing and logistics & Europe, BT, said: “Our consultants worked closely with FCA’s IT team to help it choose a connectivity solution to meet the needs of its business. They created a roadmap and business case, drawing on their deep SD-WAN expertise and over 14 years’ experience of working with FCA. We’re delighted to have signed this new contract extending our relationship with such an innovative customer.”

BT today announced the launch of a new generation of cloud-optimised managed network services to expand multinational customers’ choice of software-based connectivity solutions. The first service, based on industry-leading VMware SD-WAN, is available to customers globally and already in live deployment.

Traditional wide area networking requires dedicated, proprietary vendor hardware to be installed at each customer site. BT’s new managed service is based on generic hardware capable of supporting a choice of software-based networking solutions from different vendors.

With almost 70 different SD-WAN solutions on the market, the choice can be overwhelming. BT consultants can help customers with the best solution to fit their needs. They also advise on security, offering a range of options to meet customers’ own security policies.

The service can be managed or co-managed remotely by BT on its new digital service platform. This gives customers a single view of their entire network and a choice of management controls.

Andrew Small, director of global portfolio at BT, said: “Our new managed service further expands customers’ choice of software-defined networking solutions. Presently available with industry-leading VMware SD-WAN, it is delivered over our new, digital service platform. The solution is fully supported by our consultancy services to help customers maximise the benefits of performance, agility and flexibility for their businesses.”

Sanjay Uppal, senior vice-president and general manager, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and SD-WAN business, VMware, said: “We are excited to work with BT to help multinational enterprises around the world with their digital transformation during these unprecedented times and beyond. Together, we are committed to providing customers a cloud-first, more secure, automated, and scalable wide area network.”

BT announced it has concluded the sale of its domestic operations in France to Computacenter, announced on July 16, 2020. The transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit and will deliver continuity and growth opportunities for customers and employees in the country.

BT will retain a strong presence in France with offices in Paris, access points to its global network, strong security consultancy practice and a cyber security operations centre. The BT team in France will focus on delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers, including more than 60 customers headquartered in France.

BT and Computacenter also entered into a partnership agreement in France, ensuring continuity for existing customers and future growth opportunities.

Operations within the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of c.£104m (c.€118m) to BT in fiscal year 2018/19.

Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT, said: “We are delighted to conclude this transaction with Computacenter as it represents a new milestone in the delivery of our strategy and our ambition to become a more agile and focused business. As one of the world’s economic leaders, France is a key market for BT. We remain committed to supporting our global customers in France to meet their connectivity, cloud and security needs.”

BT today announced it is expanding its multinational customers’ choice of cloud-based audio and video collaboration managed services with the addition of Zoom Meetings to its portfolio. It follows the signing of a new carrier agreement between BT and Zoom Video Communications, Inc.

The agreement means BT becomes the first global provider to offer a fully managed Zoom Meetings service featuring a choice of connectivity and integration with its global voice network. The service also includes end-to-end experience monitoring and enhanced security.

Connectivity choices include internet, global SIP, PSTN or MPLS. BT also offers security options such as encrypting communications, protecting customers’ user IDs, secure, private and resilient MPLS connectivity, dedicated network gateways and user adoption programmes, which educate users on secure best practice.

The agreement also enables BT to offer Zoom Rooms, Zoom’s extendable software-based conference room system.

Ryan Azus, chief revenue officer, Zoom, said: “We chose BT as a global managed service partner because it’s a trusted and established leader in the world market with in-depth enterprise voice, video, security, cloud and networking expertise. Our new agreement will help large enterprises fully experience the benefits Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms offer. This partnership will also expand Zoom’s global footprint and enterprise sales capabilities.”

Andrew Small, director, Global portfolio, BT, said: “We’re keeping it simple for customers, helping them create secure and productive digital workplaces for their people, wherever they are. Our new managed service allows global enterprises, typically with complex network and IT infrastructure, to consume Zoom Meetings in a simple, consistent and secure way with optimised experiences for their people around the world.”

BT today announced that it has concluded the sale of its domestic operations and infrastructure in Latin America to CIH Telecommunications Americas LLC (‘CIH’), an affiliate of CIH Technology Holdings, announced on March 19, 2020. The divested business will operate under the name of Sencinet.

The transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit and will deliver continuity and growth opportunities for customers and employees in the region. BT will maintain a strong presence in the region, delivering next-generation networking, cloud, and security services to multinational customers across 21 countries.

BT and CIH have established a dynamic new channel relationship that allows domestic customers based in Latin America to access BT products, services and solutions globally, and provides global customers with access domestic services in Latin America in a seamless, secure, and reliable way.

Assets and operations within the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of £110m to BT in fiscal year 2018/19. They include two owned fibre networks with total length of 650km, 2000km of leased fibre lines, four data centres, and five teleports.

“We are delighted to conclude this successful transaction, which represents the next step in our strategy to become a more agile and focused business. This initiative will help us to keep the business moving forward and continue to connect communities, businesses, and governments. Latin America is a strategic market for BT and we are pleased to begin a new chapter in the region with Sencinet as a strategic partner,” said Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT.

BT today announced a seven-year contract with TP ICAP, a leading provider of market infrastructure. The new contract will provide its 700-strong broker team in London with a secure, software-based platform and applications featuring remote working capabilities. The new service will further strengthen TP ICAP’s execution services across voice trading venues.

BT Trading is a unified communications and collaboration (UCC) platform engineered specifically for the high-performance real-time trading, regulatory and security needs of the global capital markets. It can be accessed by brokers working remotely and is integrated with leading unified communications platforms from Microsoft and Cisco. It includes a powerful suite of applications and devices supported by systems either hosted by customers in their own data centres, by BT or in the public cloud.

TP ICAP will also benefit from decreasing broking operations expenditure by reducing the real estate needed for technology infrastructure and disaster recovery sites.

BT is also deploying its BT Trading soft turret app which replicates on a mobile device or PC the hardware turrets, also known as dealer boards, used by brokers on trading floors. This will enhance business resilience by ensuring brokers can communicate with customers and have access to markets just as if they were in the office.

To help customers meet their compliance obligations for service availability and call recording, BT Trading automation assures the operational functionality of voice recording and verifies enforcement of recording policies. As a safeguard, if there is a problem with the recording service, affected users are automatically logged off so unrecorded trades cannot take place.

Martin Ryan, Group Chief Operating Officer of TP ICAP, said: “Our global broking business enables our clients to execute trades across multiple asset classes and markets. Excellent client service is a prerequisite, and this system enables us to meet those demands. BT’s deep knowledge of voice and collaboration technology complements our wider ambitions to improve the efficiency of our client-facing services.”

Bernadette Wightman, managing director, banking and financial services, BT, said: “We look forward to working with TP ICAP to give its brokers the best technology experiences when communicating with colleagues and customers. TP ICAP prides itself in excellence in everything it does, so we’re delighted it has chosen our BT Trading platform as it transforms its trading floor operations to enhance agility, customer service and compliance.”

The decision to refine our security partner base was driven by the recognition that many of our customers find it difficult to navigate today’s complex security landscape. The huge range of suppliers and products in the market can be bewildering, and lead to the adoption of multiple overlapping systems. This in turn can render security estates difficult to manage, burdened with unnecessary costs and, ultimately, with lower overall levels of protection.

BT Security is reflecting its customers’ desire to reduce complexity by having a leaner set of partners and clearly laying out its view of the best providers for specific security requirements. The confirmed partners were agreed following a detailed evaluation of their respective capabilities across all security control and threat management technologies. The final selection provides BT’s view of the security market’s leading providers, who will support a harmonised portfolio of solutions to its customers going forward.

Kevin Brown, Managing Director of BT Security, said: “Our new security partner ecosystem showcases the benefits of BT Security as a Managed Security Services Provider. We’re able to use our deep experience and insight of the security ecosystem to help our customers navigate what can be an incredibly confusing market. We’re also ensuring that BT Security customers will benefit from working with the best suppliers from across the security industry.”

McAfee, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet were selected as BT Security’s ‘Critical Partners’. Each of those companies will provide a range of services and products that will be incorporated into BT Security’s global portfolio, as well as providing holistic support to its commercial and operational activities. BT Security will also work with these partners to develop a roadmap of security solutions which continue to reflect evolving customer demands and integrate the latest developments in security automation.

Lynn Doherty, Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at McAfee, said: “We’re proud to partner with BT to fight against cybercrime and accelerate new business environments for our customers as they look for more solution integrations, deeper engagement and faster modernization efforts. Together through our strategic service provider partners, like BT, McAfee is able to deliver world class security services that enable organizations to evolve their defenses into areas like Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR).”

Alex Zinin, VP, Global Service Provider Business at Palo Alto Networks, said: “We’ve been working closely with BT Security for several years to bring innovative cybersecurity solutions to our joint customers. We are honoured to be selected as one of their critical partners to continue this close collaboration, in recognition of the breadth of our security capabilities across multiple market segments. This comes at a time when it’s never been more essential for communications and security to be closely aligned to help all organisations with staff working remotely. We look forward to working together as we strive to make each day safer and more secure than the one before.”

John Maddison, Executive Vice President of Products and Chief Marketing Officer at Fortinet, said: “Digital Innovation is disrupting all industries, markets, and segments, leading to increased risk as cyber threats take advantage of this disruption. To protect against known advanced threats as well as unknown sophisticated attacks, Fortinet enables organizations to apply security anywhere and protect all edges – including WAN, cloud, data center, endpoint, identity, and home – while reducing the number of required products to save costs and remove complexity. We’re proud to partner with BT Security to help customers address the most critical security challenges and protect data across the entire digital infrastructure.”

Microsoft, IBM and Cisco were all confirmed as ‘Strategic Partners’ for BT Security. This categorisation reflects not only their relationship with BT Security, but also their broader activities and remit across the whole of BT. BT Security also confirmed a further nine ‘Ecosystem Partners’, who will be incorporated into its global portfolio of solutions for customers due to their complementary technology capabilities. These partners are Skybox, Forescout, Zscaler, Check Point, CrowdStrike, Okta, Qualys, Netscout and F5.

Through deeper strategic relationships, BT Security and its partners will work together to provide better customer experience and protection, while those selected partners will also be BT Security’s main collaborators as they look to develop future customer solutions. BT Security will regularly review the partnerships to monitor the latest vendor developments, while continuing to assess the wider industry for new and emergent security companies and technologies.

BT is one of the first Microsoft Managed Security Service Providers to have been selected for the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), with the two companies sharing a common vision for cloud services and offering market-leading security capabilities as the need for flexible and scalable technology solutions drive cloud adoption.

BT will provide a managed service for Azure Sentinel’s scalable, cloud-native, security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution. The BT managed service includes alert detection, threat visibility and threat response by combining data from the Azure Sentinel workspace with BT’s own expertise and extensive threat intelligence gained from protecting one of the world’s largest global networks. Customers will also benefit from BT’s Security Advisory Services which offer expert guidance to help organisations navigate today’s complex cyber security landscape.

Using advanced cyber security tools, BT’s 16 global Security Operations Centres monitor data ingested into a customer’s Azure Sentinel workspace. BT’s cyber security experts will detect, analyse and mitigate threats across the customer’s Microsoft estate, working closely with incident response teams to protect customer data. The service is available to a wide range of businesses and organisations spanning different industries across the globe.

Kevin Brown, Managing Director of BT Security, said: “Global security threats are borderless and are growing all the time. So, we need effective cross industry collaboration on a global scale to gather and exchange the intelligence needed to protect our customers. BT’s collaboration with Microsoft is expanding further to recognise the combined strength of our security offerings and deliver industry leading solutions for our customers.”

Mandana Javaheri, Global Director of Cybersecurity Solutions Group at Microsoft Corp. said, “BT shares our vision for encouraging cross industry collaboration to better defend against a world of increasing cyber threats and helping customers maintain control over their data. As a member the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), BT brings their cyber expertise to our vendor ecosystem and their unique threat intelligence also increases the advantages of Microsoft Azure Sentinel.”

The new service easily integrates with the existing data and security stacks in Azure and Azure Sentinel, further maximising these investments, and helping address today’s increasingly complex cyber security landscape. BT works with Microsoft to provide cloud collaboration, infrastructure, networking and security managed services to help customers' digital transformation globally. Over the coming year, BT is set to announce further managed security solutions to support Microsoft’s cloud portfolio

Notes to Editors:

Microsoft MISA

The Microsoft Intelligent Security Association began as an ecosystem of independent software vendors that integrated their security products with Microsoft's to better defend against a world of increasing threats. Due to increased demand for a closely interwoven security ecosystem, the association is growing, and is launching an invitation-only pilot program in July of 2020 for select managed security service providers. 

MISA members are from across the cybersecurity industry, unified by the common goal of putting customer security first. Each new member brings their own valuable expertise, making the association more effective as it expands. By including MSSPs in MISA, Microsoft hopes to further enable collaboration between leading security technology companies, so together, Microsoft and MISA members can deliver better protection to joint customers.

BT will retain a strong presence in the country after the sale, focusing on delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers. The transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit and will deliver continuity and growth opportunities for customers and employees in France.

For more details please see the joint press release, issued on 24 March 2020.

BT and Computacenter today announce that they have entered exclusive negotiations on the acquisition of BT’s domestic operations in France by Computacenter. The transaction is subject to consultations with works councils over a minimum period of two months. This process will adhere to any additional French Government guidance issued as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It will then be subject to regulatory approval, with completion expected to take place by the end of 2020.

BT’s domestic operations in France include management and maintenance of IT and network infrastructure, as well as networking and related professional services. During the fiscal year ending in March 2019 they generated total revenue of c.£104m (c.€118m). The acquisition would enable Computacenter to strengthen its position in the French networking market and increase the number of its major domestic customers in France.

The planned transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit as it sharpens its focus on delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational organisations.

BT would retain a strong presence in France serving multinational businesses and organisations, including access points to its global network and a cyber security operations centre. BT and Computacenter also intend to enter into a partnership agreement in France, ensuring continuity for existing customers and future growth opportunities.

“With this agreement we are close to reaching another milestone in the execution of our strategy to make BT Global a more agile business focused on the growing requirements of our multinational customers. I believe this agreement will prove a key step forward for our customers, for our people and for BT. It also offers a positive future for our domestic customers and the people who support them,” said Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT.

“This planned acquisition represents a small increase in our current revenues in France, which totalled €644.7m in 2019. The current coronavirus pandemic shows the importance of secure and reliable networks to our customers and this deal would significantly strengthen our existing French business in this growth area. It would bring our customer offering in France closer to the broader portfolio in our larger European markets, providing a strong foundation for our continued long-term growth,” said Mike Norris, CEO of Computacenter Group.

BT today announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale of selected domestic operations and infrastructure in 16 countries in Latin America to CIH Telecommunications Americas LLC (‘CIH’), an affiliate of CIH Technology Holdings. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete during this calendar year.

BT will retain a strong presence in the region after the sale, delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers across 21 countries.

The transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit and will deliver continuity and growth opportunities for customers and employees in the region. BT and CIH have also entered into wholesale and reseller agreements, under which CIH will act as a regional channel for BT’s products and services and continue to supply domestic connectivity services to BT.

Assets and operations in the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of £110m to BT in fiscal year 2018/19. They include two owned fibre networks with total length of 650km, 2000km of leased fibre lines, four data centres and five teleports. The divested business is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Today’s announcement is a key milestone in the execution of our strategy to become a more agile and focused business. It comes at a particularly challenging time for the global economy. As such, it is a sign of our determination to keep the business moving forward and continue connecting communities, businesses and governments. I am pleased to begin a new chapter in the region with CIH, providing continuity for our people and our customers,” said Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT.

“We are very excited to be re-entering global telecommunications after having successfully focused on the technology sector over a number of years. We have considerable experience in the region and the sector, and greatly look forward to growing the business and providing the highest level of service to all customers in the region, including BT. The acquired business fits very well with our strategy and existing global portfolio,” said George Kappaz, CIH’s Chairman.

BT and CIH have agreed not to disclose the terms of the purchase, which were agreed to in March 2020.

BT today announced the launch of its Security Advisory Services practice, marking another step in the ongoing expansion of its cyber security capabilities. The practice will offer strategic security guidance and solutions to organisations across the globe, reflecting the market demand for expert guidance to navigate today’s complex cyber security landscape.

BT Security Advisory Services will be led by Tris Morgan, with approximately 300 members of specialist staff based across the globe. They will be supported by the experience and capabilities of the wider BT Security team, which protects BT against 125,000 cyber-attacks per month and provides security solutions to consumers, governments and businesses, including some of the world’s best known brands.

The practice will help organisations at all stages of their security journey to assess and test their defences, and select the solutions that match their security needs – whether that requires building an entirely new security strategy, or upgrading their protections to combat the latest threats and trends.

Kevin Brown, Managing Director of BT Security, commented: “The creation of the Advisory Services practice is the next step in BT Security’s strategy. It recognises that the optimal way to safeguard any organisation is through a continual and strategic evolution of their security posture. Tris brings a wealth of experience of providing advanced cyber solutions and guidance to both the public and private sector, making him ideally placed to provide the strategic direction that organisations are looking for.”

The services provided will be grouped into four key categories: cyber threat; zero trust; governance, risk & compliance; and cloud security. Each of these areas will provide a range of solutions that cover today’s biggest security issues and help customers prepare for the major new technologies and challenges of the future. The services will be available to organisations ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises through to multinational companies and public sector organisations.

The Advisory Services practice will also offer solutions targeted at a number of industry and geography specific challenges, such as companies looking to securely expand into high-growth markets, or those looking to safely adopt increased automation and IoT usage. BT Security’s ethical hacking team will also move into the new practice, offering penetration testing services to customers who want to robustly stress-test their security defences.

Notes to Editors:

Ethical Hacking: BT Security’s ethical hacking team provides ‘penetration testing’ or ‘red team’ services, using the same tools and techniques as cybercriminals to attack organizations’ defences and identify where their vulnerabilities might be. BT’s industry-leading ethical hacking services will be available to customers who want to robustly stress-test their security defences against a range of scenarios, and then receive strategic guidance on how they can address both existing and potential security issues.

The sale is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit, focused on delivering next generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers. BT will retain a presence in Spain with offices in Madrid and Barcelona, access points to connect to its global network and its cyber security operations centre. Through a wholesale agreement, BT will continue to have access to the domestic infrastructure. The Spanish business will also become a reseller of BT’s global products under a resale agreement.

The Spanish business, which will be led by members of the current management team, provides networking services to around 600 major enterprises, including most of the IBEX-35 index companies, and generated c.£230m (c.€270m) revenue (on a pro forma basis) in the 2018/19 financial year. Assets in the transaction include a 5,600 km owned and leased optical fibre network, fully owned city fibre networks in Barcelona and Madrid and three data centres.

“Today’s announcement is another key milestone in the execution of our strategy to make Global a more agile and customer focused business. The transaction is great for BT, for our people and for our customers. Through agreements with the Spanish business, it provides continuity to both our multinational and local customers. It also enables us to focus on what we do best: providing secure connectivity and digital solutions to multinational companies globally,” said Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT.

“We are very pleased to invest in one of the leading providers of managed telecommunications services to the corporate market in Spain. We look forward to continued investment in the development of the business for the benefit of new and existing customers in the region” says Luis Peñarrocha, a founding partner of Portobello Capital.

BT was advised on the transaction by Credit Suisse International (M&A), Allen & Overy (legal) and EY (accounting). Portobello Capital was advised on the transaction by Natixis Partners (M&A), Jones Day (legal), KPMG (accounting, tax and labour) and Oliver Wyman (commercial).

BT has successfully completed the implementation of a new software defined wide area network (SD-WAN) for Rexel, a leading distributor of electrical products, connecting more than 50 sites throughout Germany. The agreement for provision and management of the network is the latest development in a relationship that spans more than 15 years.

The new network, based on Meraki SD-WAN technology, will allow Rexel to combine the benefits of different network technologies to achieve the ideal balance between security, resilience, flexibility and cost. Mission-critical and sensitive data will be transferred using dedicated connectivity, based on BT’s multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network. Less critical traffic will be routed over the Internet. Using a self-service portal, the customer’s ICT team will be able to choose which connection to use for each of its business applications, optimising cost and service reliability.

The management portal also provides better visibility of data flows across the network. Managed security services, including hardware and software-based firewalls, are an integral part of the new network design.

The next step is to migrate the local area network (LAN) to Meraki technology as well, providing Rexel with end-to-end visibility and control of the entire network. The Rexel Group operates in 26 countries throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. As part of an ongoing plan to optimise its global network, the Group is planning to roll out SD-WAN technology to further countries.

Wolfgang Tomischek, IT Director at Rexel in Germany, said: “Our customers place their orders via multiple channels — using the online shop, fax and phone — and expect us to deliver within hours. We have chosen BT because secure, reliable connectivity is key for our business, and we need a partner who can deliver the solution on a global scale, as we are part of an international group. The new, hybrid solution will give us more flexibility and control and help us control the cost at the same time.”

Joris van Oers, managing director, Resources, Manufacturing & Logistics and regional MD for Europe at BT, said: “We are proud to support Rexel with our SD-WAN solution, which offers simplicity to customers looking to capitalise on the latest network technology to support their digital transformation. It provides our customers with a better understanding of the demands on their network, and lets them control and prioritise the data traffic. And it offers a plug-and-play approach to installing new sites backed by BT’s expertise in design, set-up, implementation and network management.”

Connect Meraki SD-WAN is part of BT’s wide-reaching Dynamic Network Services programme, designed to give customers more choice, security, resilience, service and agility in the roll-out of future networks based on the latest software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) technologies.

BT today announced it is expanding its relationship with Spain’s Central Government to support its operations around the world by providing communications services in 120 countries. It follows the signing of a new, three-and-a-half-year agreement valued at €39.97 million under which BT will make the government’s international network more powerful and increase the scope of current services it provides to end-users.

BT will draw on its global reach and technical expertise to upgrade the Spanish Central Government’s global network, which provides resilient connectivity for Spain’s embassies, consulates and trade offices. It also includes satellite-based connections to ten scientific research ships in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea as well as a Spanish polar research station in Antarctica.

The upgraded network will enable deployment of advanced digital solutions, such as virtual desktops and web-based applications for end-users, including citizens and Foreign Office staff. With enhanced bandwidth, security and resilience, it will deliver more productive experiences for the users by making their IT applications and services easier to access, better performing and more reliable.

BT was selected to support the international presence of the Spanish Government because of its global footprint, experience and the quality of its offer during the tender process.

Joris van Oers, managing director, Europe region, BT, said: “The power of BT’s brand opens doors around the world. Governments trust us because we have proven industry leadership in delivering secure and reliable connectivity and support for their far-flung operations, ensuring their sensitive operations are protected and connected as well as fully future-proofed for the next wave of innovation in software-defined networking and delivery of digital services.”

ENDS

Note to Editors

• The new contract has been signed after BT has won the International Network lot as part of the second phase of the consolidation process to contract telecommunication services that Spain’s Central Government launched to support its Foreign Ministry’s operations in-country and around the world.

• The three-and-a-half year contract represents €39.97 million in revenue and will launch in March 2020, covering more than 400 premises across 120 countries, as well as 10 ships and a base in Antarctica.

• BT provides secure and highly-available network services to the Central Government including Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación) and the Institute of Foreign Commerce (ICEX).

• Services include a combination of international wide-area networks (WAN) based on MPLS, Internet connectivity and satellite connections. Around 6000 employees are using BT’s IP-based voice services.

• BT has been providing global communication services to the Spanish Central Government since 2010, when it won a public tender for Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

BT will deploy and manage a consolidated global network infrastructure for Schindler, connecting their data centres, offices, factories and contact centres globally using IP Connect, BT’s highly reliable and secure network service, and a global internet solution. This will remove the complexity of dealing with a multitude of network operators. It will offer Schindler better visibility of cost and performance as well as improved end-to-end service quality.

Matteo Attrovio, Chief Information Officer, Schindler Group, said, “A global, secure, integrated network is a crucial element of our digital strategy. It will allow us to move from a fragmented network of suppliers to a global provider who can offer a fully managed, high quality end-to-end network service.”

Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT, said, “We are proud to have been chosen by Schindler as a trusted advisor on their digital transformation journey. Schindler is a fast-growing, global company, and we are happy to support them with our services and expertise all around the globe. Schindler moves more than one billion people every day, and it is fantastic that we can support them in providing a safe and secure service.”