[afren] [IOZ] Telkom loses R192m deal (fwd)

[Lucy Lynch]

FYI

- Lucy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:25:22 +0200
From: Bretton Vine <bretton at hivemind.net>
Reply-To: IOZ <ioz at internet.org.za>
To: 'IOZ List' <ioz at internet.org.za>
Subject: [IOZ] Telkom loses R192m deal

Telkom loses R192m deal
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2007/0711131048.asp
BY SAMANTHA PERRY

Tenet has announced that Internet Solutions and Neotel will collaborate to
jointly provide local universities and research institutions with bandwidth
and network management services for the next two years, after the expiry of
its contract with Telkom, on 31 December this year.

The deal with Neotel and IS is estimated to be worth R192 million over the
full period, and includes the provision of connectivity to and between the
100-odd sites that form the research and education network run by Tenet, as
well as layer two connectivity from IS' Bree Street facility, in Cape Town,
to the UbuntuNet research and education hub, in London.

Tenet is co-locating a gateway at the Bree Street facility, but this was
negotiated separately and does not form part of what Tenet calls its GEN3
agreement.

The GEN3 contract has been awarded to Neotel and IS following a procurement
process. This involved a call for expressions of interest and a request for
proposal phase, in which proposals were invited from seven operators. IS,
Neotel and Telkom responded to the invitation. Representatives of the
institutions that Tenet acts on behalf of were heavily involved in the
procurement process, says Tenet CEO Duncan Martin.

Tenet runs a national research and education network (NREN) on behalf of 40
research and educational institutions in SA and surrounding areas. It is
responsible for securing connectivity and associated services for the
institutions it serves, and which control it. These institutions include all
23 of SA's universities.

The organisation utilised Telkom's services for its first two connectivity
contracts (called Higher Education Internetworking Solution with Telkom and
GEN2, respectively), both of which ran for relatively short periods (March
2001 to 31 December 2004, and January 2005 to December 2007).

The procurement process this time was different, says Martin: “When we
procured for the previous two contracts, there was only one game in town
[Telkom], and this is no longer the case due to changes in the South African
marketplace. Secondly, a worldwide movement called Research and Education
Networking (REN) has taken off.

“In a nutshell, at a national level, research and educational institutions
get together and form an NREN, which interconnects the member institutions
with as big and fat pipes as they can afford. The NREN provides them with
shared services, connections to each other and to other RENs.

“Tenet has, since 2000, grown into being the South African NREN, and for the
first time this has seriously impacted procurement. It meant that not only
did we require Net access as cheaply as possible, but we also had to meet
requirements that would enable us to fulfill the function of an NREN,
notably to make and fulfill interconnections with other NREN's worldwide
ourselves.”

Hence Tenet's procurement of layer 2 connectivity on the international
circuits, and a gateway (from IS) that will be under Tenet's control and not
the provider's.

IS, Neotel and Tenet are in the process of finalising a tripartite agreement
in which the two service providers agree to collaborate with each other in
the provision of services to the universities and research institutions
through Tenet.

Telkom was unable to comment at the time of going to press as it is in a
closed period in anticipation of its results announcement on Monday, 19
November.

-- 
warmest regards | skype:brettonvine | 083.633.8475
:GPG: http://bretton.hivemind.net/bretton_vine.asc

"What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we
call 'thought'." - Hume

_______________________________________________
IOZ mailing list
IOZ at internet.org.za
http://lists.internet.org.za/mailman/listinfo/ioz