17 February 2005 High street banking giant Barclays is set to overhaul its communication networks, signing a seven-year deal with BT, potentially worth over £500 million, to introduce a IP-based voice and data network.
Barclays said it expects to cut costs by 30% through the introduction of an IP network for its voice and data traffic over the life of the contract. BT will provide a secure IP-based Wide Area Network, Local Area Network and voice services.
‘These capabilities will enable the bank to reduce cost and enable front-line staff to better serve our customers,” said Emile Sanchez, director of enterprise technology infrastructure services at Barclays.
Barclays joins the growing list of businesses moving to converged voice and data networks. In December LloydsTSB committed itself to £500 million Voice over IP (VoIP) deal with IBM.
The VoIP market is expected to double in value over the next three years to an estimated £2.1 billion, according to analysts at the Yankee Group.
VoIP offers businesses the potential to slash the cost of telephone calls, with voice traffic routed through Internet or IP backbones, bypassing traditional tolled wires.
