Business Everywhere 3G, WiFi, ADSL, GPRS or PSTN

21st June , 2004

Europe : The France Telecom Group today unveiled a groundbreaking range of solutions called Business Everywhere that brings business customers a full suite of simple, secure solutions for communications with employees who are frequently on the move.

Wherever they are—on sales call at a customer site, in a public area or at home—employees can access their desktop environment from a laptop in a single click, including email, Intranet, directory and unified messaging. The service is totally transparent to the access technology used, whether WiFi, ADSL, GPRS, PSTN or 3G mobile (as of the final quarter of 2004).

The Business Everywhere packs enable businesses to efficiently manage costs by choosing the network that is best adapted to employees’ communications needs.

Barbara Dalibard, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Communication Services, France Telecom, said: “With the rising volume of communications, businesses face new challenges and need maximum efficiency and responsiveness. Employees frequently travel around the world and need access to their desktop environment from wherever they are - an airport, hotel or at home. This access must be convenient, simple and absolutely secure. Business Everywhere is the first range of solutions that addresses this fundamental need and delivers concrete value-added for businesses. By capitalizing on our brands and network expertise, the France Telecom Group is making its nomadism vision a reality with this seamless multi-network service.”

Simplicity first

Regardless of the network accessed, Business Everywhere provides one contract, one customer support contact and one bill, which greatly simplifies the management of nomadism solutions for business customers.

Business Everywhere provides unified nomadic access via all France Telecom networks in France and the rest of the world (available as of September 2004) by capitalizing on and integrating the expertise of Orange, Wanadoo and Equant. Employees have one connection kit and one password only, which saves them time whenever they are on the move.

The connection kit features the latest technologies and is compatible with:

the main operating systems (Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP),
WiFi, GPRS and 3G cards available on the market,
most DSL modems (Inventel, Alcatel SpeedTouch, Sagem Fast 1100, ECI HI-Focus, Bewan USB…).
To enhance customer experience, the France Telecom Group has set up a single user hotline to field requests for information and provide technical assistance for all hardware and all networks. Furthermore, the France Telecom Group will provide dedicated training sessions at its business customers premises .

The France Telecom Group’s commitment to security

The Group has drawn on the advanced expertise of the France Telecom R&D researchers and the proven experience of Equant in virtual private network (VPN) security. Business Everywhere includes personal firewall and antivirus solutions and guarantees end-to-end protection of information exchanged. Each company centralizes Internet access entitlements for its nomadic staff.

To better respond to the business customers’ needs in terms of security, the France Telecom group has collaborated with Syntec Informatique to write and publish a
white paper on “Nomadism and Security: Teleworking in Complete Confidence”.

An extended network coverage

Business customers benefit from the France Telecom group’s interoperable networks and seamless international coverage. This unique infrastructure spans 130 countries for PSTN, 29 countries for GPRS, 20 countries for WiFi (target end 2004) and 66 countries for ADSL, with the roaming agreements signed in each country.

Packaged solutions tailored to customer profiles

The France Telecom Group has developed two packs to meet the different needs of its customers:

Designed for intensive users, the “Pack Intensif” includes PSTN dial-up, WiFi and unlimited GPRS (starting at 68 euros per month), plus a home ADSL option that can be paid in full or partially by the company for its nomadic employees.
For less frequent use, the “Pack Occasionnel” costs 7 euros per month, per user, plus usage charges (WiFi starting at 6 euros per hour, PSTN dial-up from 1,25 euros per hour).

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