The majority of Standard Bank's global voice and data traffic will be handled by Telstra's fully managed Wide Area Network (WAN) resulting in several business benefits such as greater IT security, more flexible connectivity, more systems scalability, reduced operational costs and low maintenance.

Standard Bank operates from a global network of offices which previously relied upon a stand alone telecom circuit "point to point" solution. With new banking packages such as trading platforms and settlement systems being introduced across the organisation, the Company was prompted to move to a fully managed MPLS solution to guarantee continual service availability.

Telstra Europe was already providing Standard Bank with voice carrier services and, after a competitive tender process, was selected last year for the MPLS contract upon the basis of the quality of their technology and strong service proposition.

Commenting today, Gary Diable, Technical Infrastructure Manager, Standard Bank, said, "Trust was the key consideration when choosing to move the Bank's voice and data services to a fully managed IP-based service. The decision to adopt the MPLS solution, which provides us with cutting edge industry-technology backed up with a highly professional service, is a natural progression of our excellent working relationship."

The MPLS solution has been operational at Standard Bank for approximately one year and, whilst London is one of the Company's main communication "hubs", it has also been deployed across the majority of its global offices.

By converging its voice and data across a single IP-based network, Standard Bank has introduced video conferencing technology for the first time. This has significantly improved the communication process within the organisation, reduced the need for senior management to travel between office locations and reduced costs.

David Thorn, CEO, Telstra Europe, added, "The rapid and secure transfer of information across the globe is the lifeblood of the investment banking industry. In addition to commercial considerations it also ensures financial institutions are meeting their regulatory requirements. Telstra Europe is delighted to be the communications partner of choice for Standard Bank and look forward to a continued excellent working relationship."

Mr Diable concluded, "In addition to having total peace of mind that our communications infrastructure is in the safe hands of a tier one carrier, our IT managers also have access to Telstra's Service Tools online portal, which enables them to simultaneously monitor our network on a geographical basis and examine traffic in detail."