Equant (Euronext Paris: EQU, a recognized industry leader in global IP and data services for multinational businesses, has developed a proprietary Tot...

Equant (Euronext Paris: EQU, a recognized industry leader in global IP and data services for multinational businesses, has developed a proprietary Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analytical tool, called Abacus, that offers existing and potential customers a unique analysis of total IT maintenance costs. Abacus is based on Gartner Inc.'s TCO methodology. The tool uses reference values that provide benchmarks for corporations to compare their IT maintenance costs in different regions with industry averages.

Equant is making this unique tool available to customers in a series of customized one-on-one workshops around the world in which participants can compare their own costs with Gartner survey averages, review management best practices, and learn how they can improve processes and reduce costs. The workshops, led by Equant consultants, help the participants explore explicit as well as hidden cost items, such as maintenance repair times, network management, LAN labor, depreciation, upgrades, spare parts, training, administration, helpdesk and downtimes. The data, which is strictly protected from third parties, is entered into Abacus, and four reports are generated with detailed cost data and comparisons to benchmark figures.

"The aim of Abacus is to help customers detect hidden maintenance costs, identify possible weaknesses in their systems, define savings opportunities and initiate measures to reduce costs and boost productivity," said Gopi Gopinath, Equant's head of Products and Solutions. "Our customers realize that Total Cost of Ownership is a crucial factor for their competitive position and are responding very favorably to the roll-out of our TCO analysis tool. It is another ground-breaking approach by Equant to help customers run their businesses more effectively."

Abacus is the first of two steps in Equant's Maintenance TCO analysis process. Once customers have determined whether their IT maintenance costs are in line with global and regional benchmarks, Equant then makes consultants available to delve further into a company's infrastructure and processes and to provide advice on areas for improvement. This can include free full-site audits of customer equipment and spare part requirements. In most cases, significant savings are possible with maintenance services outsourced to Equant, and IT staffs can be freed up to concentrate on the company's core business, rather than maintaining IT infrastructure. Earlier this year, Equant started using TCO analysis successfully with its flagship IP VPN solution, and plans to expand the service based on Abacus to other products and solutions in the coming months.

About Equant Maintenance Services Equant offers a single point of contact for a wide variety of maintenance services with consistent quality on a global basis. These Maintenance Services are customized with a choice of service levels designed to fit different response time preferences and budgets. They build on local support with global coordination delivered by more than 3,000 Equant professionals in more than 200 service locations around the world. These professionals support customer networks, LAN and desktop equipment using standard service levels and consistent processes worldwide. Equant's Global Customer Service Centers manage reported incidents, dispatching engineers to any customer location, logging every request and keeping the customer informed via Equant's Web-accessible Global Service Management System. Customers benefit from reduced downtime through guaranteed response times, as well as controlled costs through consistent maintenance fees over the contract term.


About Equant
Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) is a recognized industry leader in global data and IP network and integration services for multinational businesses. The Equant network has unmatched seamless reach, connecting key business centers in 220 countries and territories, with local support in more than 165 countries. Building on more than 50 years of experience in data communications, Equant serves thousands of the world's top companies with the industry's most extensive portfolio of managed network services, including the market-leading IP VPN used by 950 global businesses as of Oct. 1, 2003.

Equant, a subsidiary of France Telecom, was named Best Global Carrier 2003 and Best Managed Service 2003 at the World Communication Awards and consistently leads industry surveys in corporate user satisfaction.

For more information on Equant, please visit www.equant.com