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Allianz Continues to Rely on Equant

Announcement posted by Equant 02 Nov 2004

The Allianz Group renews IP VPN contract worth $7 million with Equant
The Allianz Group will continue entrusting its IP VPN to Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU). A new three-year contract worth $7 million underlines the two multinationals successful cooperation, which began in 1999.
The Allianz Group, with its headquarters in Munich, is one of the largest and most renowned financial service organisations with an international network in the world. The company is active in more than 70 countries with around 174,000 employees and provides its approximately 60 million customers worldwide with comprehensive service in the areas of insurance, providential cover (life and medical insurance) and assets (asset management and banking). In 2003, Allianz achieved a premium income of 85 billion and assets under management of 996 billion.
The Allianz Group recently decided to adopt a new IT strategy and to work with only a few strategic partners. Equant was chosen as one of three strategic network service providers. Equant offers the insurer optimal geographic coverage. Altogether 70 locations worldwide are linked via Equants MPLS-based IP VPN. With Equant as a partner, the Allianz Group can profit in particular from the following advantages:
Cost efficiency: Through the use of IP infrastructure, economies of scale are achieved, which enable the Allianz Group to optimise its telecoms budget and improve its service.
Flexibility: The plug and play concept of Equants IP VPN facilitates the effortless integration of additional locations and the adaptation of communications infrastructure when the organisation expands.
The Allianz Group will obtain considerable advantages from the use of Equants IP VPN, including an increase in efficiency through the optimisation of its communications infrastructure, enhanced security and significant cost savings, said Dr. Franz Vojik of the Allianz Group. The Equant Professional Services team has assisted us with help and advice from day one. Thanks to this teams commitment and its tremendous efforts, we are in a position to exploit all the benefits of a tailor-made IP VPN solution and thereby improve our service.
We are delighted to have cemented our relationship with the Allianz Group through renewed cooperation, said Frank Sommerfeld, general manager of Equant. The Allianz Group can in the future profit from the solution implemented, just like our more than 1,300 other IP VPN clients.
About Equant
Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) is a recognized industry leader in global communications services for multinational businesses. Equant combines its network expertise including unmatched seamless network reach in 220 countries and territories and local support in approximately 165 countries with its expanded services capabilities to provide global, integrated and customized communication services to enable its customers key business processes. Equant serves thousands of the worlds top companies, with the industrys most extensive portfolio of communications services and network solutions, including the market-leading IP VPN used by nearly 1,300 global businesses. Equant, a subsidiary of France Telecom, consistently leads industry surveys in corporate user satisfaction.