Teleglobe inks $400m Nortel deal

Teleglobe, BCE’s global connectivity arm, has signed a $400 million, multi-year contract for an optical Internet system from Nortel Networks. The deal will allow Teleglobe to offer enhanced IP and ATM services such as VPNs and streaming content.

Included in the contract is Nortel’s OPTera Long Haul 1600 Optical Line System, OPTera Connect DX Connection manager and the Preside network and management tool.

Deployment of the Nortel equipment is part of Teleglobe’s GlobeSystem network, a worldwide IP products and services initiative aimed at liking 160 cities worldwide via fiber optics and satellite.

According to Lisa Donnan, Teleglobe’s chief marketing officer, the GlobeSystem deployment is part of the company’s plans to transition from voice to data-centric, a move that has been quickened with a shakeup of Teleglobe’s top management this past summer.

“One of the things that the new senior management team decided to do was accelerate Teleglobe’s transition from voice driven to Internet and data driven, which means accelerating Globe system,” said Lisa Donnan, Teleglobe’s chief marketing officer. “Our partnership with Nortel allows us to do that because the foundation of GlobeSystem is an optical network.”

The Nortel system is already operation on a route connecting Montreal to New York. An OC-48 SONET ring in Tokyo has also been lit, as well as DWDM fiber routes in Europe.