Posted by : trraju on Oct 06, 2003 - 07:56 PM General

BT has signed a deal with networking company Intelliden to boost its hosted network managed services offering so it can provide customers with a 'pay as you require' model.
Part of BT Global Services, Transform Service is aimed at large and mid-sized organisations, giving them access to a range of applications and services, such as customer relationship management, storage, voice over IP and business video.

The telco is using Intelliden's R-Series application to offer customers a service that can be easily altered to meet their changing needs.

Gordon Suttie, BT Global Solutions vision and strategy manager, explained: "We needed to create a manageable, scalable, secure and, ultimately, stable platform that was capable of matching our customers' timescales for rapid change and deployment."

BT hopes the 'pay as you require' model will attract customers that want to pilot software applications before rolling out an installation, because it should reduce complexity and risk, as well as lowering the total cost of ownership.

"Intelliden allows for live trials of new services on a limited scale and without any huge investment before their roll-out to a customer's entire organisation," explained Suttie.

But Mike Cansfield, Ovum research director, commented: "The idea of enabling your customers to have more control over the service provided is not unique. It sounds as though BT is playing catch-up with its competitors in terms of this capability."

Transform Service uses Internet Protocol and virtual private network technologies and lets customers automate changes. It claims that this reduces the risk of errors being introduced onto the network.

Ravi Pather, Intelliden EMEA vice president, described the application as "the front-end interface of a PC, rather like Windows was the operating system for DOS.

"It normalises network languages, meaning that organisations don't have to invest in specific skills sets just to manage their networked assets."

On the deal with Intelliden, Ovum's Cansfield said: "This is an empowering move from BT for its customers, with the possibility of reducing its operational cost and prices.

"It also puts BT on the right track for competing with AT&T, which is still leading in this space."