BellSouth Corp. is adding Gigabit Ethernet, voice-enabled applications and managed storage services to its e-platform initiative through two partnerships.
Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of the Bell’s Native Mode local area network (LAN) Interconnection service, offering business customers point-to-point and switched Gigabit Ethernet service. BellSouth (www.bellsouth.com) will first offer the service to enterprise customers in Atlanta and expand into Florida and North Carolina next year.
BellSouth execs say the service offers business customers a relatively affordable solution to interconnect LANs and transport data quickly from one location to another.
Capitalizing on growing interest in storage networking, BellSouth has partnered with Waltham, Mass.-based StorageNetworks Inc. (www.storagenetworks.com), a provider of data storage management services. Through the deal, BellSouth will offer enterprise customers primary and backup storage in the fourth quarter, with the latter service expected to gain the most traction early on, says BellSouth chief marketing officer Donna Lee.
Lee says 25 to 30 percent of the Bell’s customers in its two 100,000-square-foot data centers in Atlanta and Miami could be considered potential storage customers. BellSouth anticipates bundling Gigabit Ethernet and storage services, providing a consolidated service level agreement to customers in 2002. BellSouth will target smaller businesses as well as consumers with the services.
“We do anticipate that over time consumers will play a big role in the development of the storage marketplace with the evolution and penetration of broadband in the home and in … small businesses as well. So that emerging marketplace will be part of our plans as well,” adds Lee.
Marking the third tenet to its recent e-platform initiative, BellSouth has partnered with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based BeVocal Inc. (www.bevocal.com) to provide enhanced voice-enabled services to consumers and enterprise customers. BellSouth is conducting a consumer trial in Atlanta that includes BeVocal’s voice platforms and applications software.
BellSouth says it will offer consumers voice-activated applications that enable them to use spoken commands and keywords to access location and travel services, such as driving directions and weather updates, information services, such as stock quotes and news, and entertainment services, such as horoscopes.
