By Tony Hallett, 22 May 2003 13:02
NEWS Visa International has handed BT a five-year E60m contract for a dedicated IP network spanning more than 50 countries. The network will handle transaction processing with hundreds of member banks. Raj Haider, Visa International head of payment service infrastructure, said: "Our shortlist was based on technology solutions and management methodologies. BT showed flexibility, including an ability to partner, not sitting on a pedestal and being arrogant in thinking they can do it all themselves." Visa whittled down an initial list of around 270 suppliers to 80, to 24, to eventually six that submitted request for proposal documents (RFPs). BT will handle everything between Visa's UK-based datacentres and around 265 member sites in 52 countries, with more due to come online shortly. The card payments giant is moving from legacy, multi-vendor SNA-based infrastructure as part of a strategic review across its CEMEA (Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) operations. Visa's Haider said there is increasingly less and less support and hardware for an SNA environment. BT Retail CEO Pierre Danon said in a statement: "IP is now clearly accepted as the industry standard and will provide significant enhancements to Visa CEMEA's regional network capabilities."
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