Northern Telecom Ltd has plunged into the fashionable facilities management business in the US, forming a Network Integration division for management of corporate networks. The division will be part of its Networks group, based in Dallas. Services offered will include operations support, analysis, planning, co-ordination and implementation, as well as the day-to-day operation, administration and management of corporate networks. Northern will also incorporate new technologies into networks, reducing the risk of obsolesence. Equipment, installation and maintenance will be supplied through existing distribution channels. If required Northern will also design customised networks, develop specific network applications and co-ordinate multiple equipment and service providers. Northern says the division has been created in response to the growing demand from organisations for service companies to take over the management of their networks and the company claims that with their experience and resources they can improve service responsiveness, increase reliability and help insure the cost-effective performance of the network. New York-based Bankers Trust Co, the seventh largest bank in the US is the first customer, signing a six-year agreement with the Canadian under which the network integration division will provide network integration and operating services management of the bank’s telephone network. The contract, valued at over $40m, calls for Northern Telecom to install a Meridian SuperNode switching system at one of Bankers Trust’s Manhattan locations and upgrade the existing Northern Telecom private branch exchange systems in the area to ine-corporate Integrated Services Digital Networking and Signaling System 7 capabilities. Northern has also agreed to insure optimum performance of the network, both internally and through its connections to the public telephone network. Services to be provided under the contract include telecommunications equipment maintenance, customer service order processing, network administration, vendor management, network engineering support, and rapid network recovery in case of a major interruption. building of a new research establishment in Ottawa, Ontario alongside its existing facilities to bring together people scattered around leased facilities.
