Madrid -- AT&T announced that it has been chosen by GroupEAD Europe S.L. to provide a wide area network connecting 29 key air traffic control locations across 15 European countries. The three year €4.5 million agreement may also be extended to other European countries using the service.
GroupEAD was founded to provide the European AIS Database (EAD) service on behalf of EUROCONTROL, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, the provider of cross-border AIS (Aeronautical Information Service) for Europe.
AT&T is providing GroupEAD with the network necessary to connect its premises and clients throughout Europe to the EAD Database located in Copenhagen. For GroupEAD and their clients reliability and security of the network are the most crucial issues in the provision of the service.
The new AT&T system provides real time access to critical data with a standardized interface backed by pro-active network monitoring and management backed up by a 24x7 helpdesk support and dedicated service level agreements.
GroupEAD selected AT&T as it gives them the benefit of dealing with one service provider with a Europe wide infrastructure that could deliver in every territory and has the ability to quickly integrate further locations as and when they come on stream. AT&T was able to install the service to the first 14 locations in less than three months, minimizing disruption to local operations.
Commenting on the agreement, Sylviane Wybo, EAD Programme Manager from Eurocontrol: "Having a European network partner that is able to deliver a robust network with high performance is crucial for the provision of aeronautical information service in Europe."
Egon Koopmann, CEO GroupEAD, said: "AT&T has given us the flexible, reliable, cost effective solution we need to ensure we can continue to offer the European aviation industry the highest standard of safety and service. We can't afford to compromise in any aspects of our operations and with AT&T we have a supplier who can meet our exacting standards."
Bill Archer, President for AT&T Europe, Middle East & Africa welcomed the deal. "Today's most critical business applications depend on networks -- and nothing is more of a critical application than air safety. Our state-of-the art infrastructure backed by our global scale means we not only understand what GroupEAD need but we have the scale and scope to meet their needs."
GroupEAD was founded by AENA Aeropuertos Espagnoles y Navegacion Aérea of Spain, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH and Frequentis GmbH of Germany, the company makes the management of consistent aeronautical data available on a timely basis throughout Europe.
The AT&T solution is based on a managed data network using frame relay and an important part of the service is a high level of resilience and multiple backup options for this safety critical network. AT&T is also providing access to the Internet via the AT&T Global Managed Internet Service (GMIS) and remote access to allow GroupEAD managers to access their corporate network while traveling or from remote locations.
About GroupEAD:
Three companies founded GroupEAD Europe S.L. as a multinational enterprise -- AENA Entidad Publica Empresarial Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH and Frequentis Nachrichtentechnik GmbH. The objective of GroupEAD Europe S.L., whose registered seat is in Madrid, is to operate the EAD service and provide the EAD clients with validated dynamic and static aeronautical data.
The company currently operates at four locations in Europe: Madrid (Spain), operational and quality centre; Frankfurt (Germany), operational and training centre; Copenhagen (Denmark), location and operation of EAD system; Vienna (Austria), IT developments centre. Based on the GroupEAD Europe S.L. philosophy the tasks are distributed in order to be a flexible, multinational and competitive provider of AIS data throughout Europe.
About AT&T
For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.
