Press release

NTL Business widens VPN market with launch of broadband-based portfolio

• Launching Broadband Power, a range of fully-managed Virtual Private Network (VPN) products using ADSL connectivity
• Delivering cost-effective communications links for multi-site organisations, SMEs and teleworkers
• Utilising NTL Business’ world-class broadband network to carry traffic securely without using the public Internet

23 February 2004 – NTL Business, a leading provider of communications services to businesses and public sector organisations, has today announced the launch of Broadband Power, a range of ADSL-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) solutions.

Broadband Power is designed to deliver a fully-managed end-to-end VPN solution for organisations of all sizes looking to establish cost-effective high bandwidth links between disparate sites. It is ideal for organisations with satellite sites that require access to centralised Head Office systems, Intranets, applications and the Internet, or for companies implementing teleworking solutions.

In addition, Broadband Power provides a flexible and cost effective solution to smaller organisations that have previously found the costs of bespoke VPN solutions or multiple leased lines to be prohibitive, yet require more speed, capacity and security than lower-end products such as DIY Internet VPNs generally offer.

By carrying traffic over NTL’s private ATM network rather than the public Internet, Broadband Power offers enhanced security for sensitive data communications. It is designed to offer a high degree of flexibility and can be easily integrated into existing network access solutions, preventing the need for complete network overhaul as new sites are added.

Broadband Power is available in three versions, enabling organisations to select a package that best suits their bandwidth, SLA and budget requirements:

• Broadband Professional: offers 256kbps upstream and variable downstream data rates up to 2Mb, with a contention ratio of 4:1 – ideal for organisations with higher bandwidth demands
• Broadband Office: offers 256kbps upstream and a downstream data rate of 512kbps, with a contention ratio of 20:1 – well suited for multi-user sites with lower bandwidth requirements
• Broadband Teleworker: a single user service for 10 sites or more, offering 256kbps upstream and 512kbps downstream, with a 20:1 contention ratio – designed to provide secure, remote network access for the growing numbers of employees that regularly work from home.

Nigel Lee, Product Manager at NTL Business, commented: “Businesses and public sector institutions alike increasingly need to support communications between a number of geographically diverse sites. And with the introduction of new flexible working legislation, growing numbers of organisations are also looking at ways to enable home access for teleworkers.

“We identified a clear market requirement for a range of solutions that would deliver secure network access and also offer the flexibility of adding new sites as the need arises, without enormous additional expense. Broadband Power meets all of these needs and makes the benefits of Virtual Private Networking a realistic prospect for many organisations for the first time.”

All three versions of Broadband Power offer a fully managed service, to include CPE installed and configured by NTL Business service engineers. Comprehensive SLAs are provided reflecting the grade of service selected.