The CEO of BT Global Services, Andy Green was in India recently to inaugurate its MPLS node in Chennai, which is part of BT's 21st Century Network (CN). The new node assumes significance for BT, as it will help BT up its service offerings in the country.

"India is a very important geography for BT and we intend to garner a bigger market share here and we aim to achieve significant growth in the next three years from our Indian operations," said Green. BT is aggressively targeting the BPO companies. According to Green, for conducting business effectively on a real-time basis, one needs a proactive network backbone, and the 21 CN network is an initiative by BT to provide these demanding customers with enhanced global connectivity.

The investment in new nodes clearly shows BT's commitment to the Indian market. Says Green, "Our services in India help the customers in meeting the demanding service levels that revolve around aspects like accuracy, cost efficiency and reliability. Given that, the expansion of our MPLS network in India enables them to meet their challenging communication needs." According to industry experts, BT's investment in its nodes comes at a time when Indian enterprises are aggressively expanding and looking at reliable global connectivity options. The MPLS nodes provide seamless, reliable connectivity.

	"Our services in India help the customers in meeting the demanding service levels that revolve around aspects like accuracy, cost efficiency and reliability. Given that, the expansion of our MPLS network in India enables them to meet their challenging communication needs"
	-Andy Green, CEO, BT Global Services

BT's 21 CN network is being ramped up quickly across the world, with a new city being added every week to it. BT defines 21 CN network as a backbone that is a multi-service network designed to support voice, data, Internet and video services. It's based on IP and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). According to BT sources, it says that its 21 CN networks are the most resilient in the world. As part of its Asia Pacific strategy BT is creating more nodes, and has invested around $100 mn. Through these networks, BT intends to replace traditional TDM networks with MPLS-based networks.

The Chennai Node
BT has established an IP-centric multi services core router platform in Chennai. The node has a total bandwidth capacity of 2.5 Gbps with scalability of up to 10 Gbps. BT claims that through this MPLS core network, it would be able to offer 99.999% reliability. The node in Chennai supports voice, data, video and web-based services and enterprises can run mission-critical applications like unified messaging, CRM and hosted contact center. The multi-service router platform also supports aspects like application acceleration and assurance for corporate software applications.

The node in Chennai is expected to bring more clients to BT. According to company sources, leading MNCs and IT companies are looking at a more resilient network infrastructure and looking at service providers like BT to manage their telecom needs. For instance, the key beneficiaries of this node in Chennai would be companies like Sutherland, Xansa and Genpact and IT companies like Cognizant, TCS, and Wipro among others.

Countering Competition
BT's aggressive foray into India and its ambitious plans here augur well for large enterprises. But on the other hand, BT needs to counter competition effectively from local players who are aggressive in offering MPLS-based services. BT is pitching its legendary QoS as a driving force in gaining more market share. It may be recalled, in February this year, BT was granted the ILD and NLD licenses by DoT that facilitates it to offer services directly to multi-site corporate customers in India. In order to gain ground in the Indian market, BT has also recently acquired Mumbai-based i2i Enterprises, which specializes in IP-based services and has leading IT and BPO companies as its clients. All this will help BT to move at fast pace vis-a-vis its competitors.

Shrikanth G
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in