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Tiscali Business Services newsletter
March 2009 |
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Welcome to the March issue of the Tiscali Business Services newsletter.Good news! Comms Business, one of UK's leading Channel publications, has nominated Tiscali for the 2009 reader vote category of Network Operator of the Year. In our first article Lance Spencer, Product and Marketing Director for Tiscali Business Services, sheds some light on why he believes Tiscali Business Services might win the Comms Business Network Operator of the Year Award 2009. Please click here to vote for us! Our second article provides an update on Tiscali's Next Generation Network; In the last 12 months at Tiscali, we have introduced a raft of innovative new products for the channel based on up to 16Mb ADSL2+. Born out of ADSL2+, Annex M and SDSL (M) have been introduced to offer new market disruptive wholesale telecoms services - faster, more innovative and much less expensive services than BT's SDSL and leased lines. With speeds of up to 16Mb downstream and up to 2.5Mb upstream these products guarantee our partners a unique competitive advantage in an increasingly bandwidth hungry market. Finally, to ensure our partners offer the best possible prices to their customers, Warren Potts, Head of IPVPN, provides a brief reminder of the different discount options available as outlined in the Tiscali price book. 
Lance Spencer Product and Marketing Director Tiscali Business Services www.tiscali-business.co.uk |
This month:
Tiscali's next generation network Lance Spencer, Product and Marketing Director for Tiscali Business Services, provides an insight in to the level of innovation created in the market by Tiscali's next generation network. I would like to thank... Why Tiscali just might win 'network operator of the year' Discount options for Tiscali Resellers Warren Potts, Head of IPVPN for Tiscali Business Services, outlines the different discounts available. |
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If you have any queries regarding Tiscali Business Services Products or to unsubscribe, please email marketing@tiscali-business.co.uk. Copyright 2009 Tiscali. All Rights Reserved. |
| Tiscali's Next Generation Network |
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Lance Spencer, Product and Marketing Director for Tiscali Business Services: Tiscali launched the UK's first nationwide ADSL2+ service to the channel in January 2008, based on Tiscali's Next Generation Network, bringing the benefits of high speed DSL technology to channel partners and their end customers. The availability of up to 16Mb ADSL2+ presented the channel with its first taste of high bandwidth enterprise services which accommodate the ever increasing demands of real-time, bandwidth hungry applications, such as VoIP, video conferencing and TV on demand. ADSL2+ has been engineered to meet the requirements of a customer site with a large end-user base, and very high throughput applications. In the past this could only be addressed via dedicated Leased Lines or Ethernet technology in the Wide Area Network. Since the massively successful launch of ADSL2+ and subsequent spin-off products, such as Annex M, we have been busy working with our partners to roll out high speed, high bandwidth services to companies right across the UK. The fact is that Tiscali now has more business ADSL2+ customers than any other supplier in the wholesale industry. In July we subsequently introduced a new package of wholesale telecoms services for our channel partners offering faster, more innovative and less expensive services than BT's SDSL and leased lines. ADSL2+ variants Annex M and SDSL (M) enable resellers to provide their customers with greater service options and a host of attractive features, including significantly increased upstream bandwidth and higher guaranteed bandwidth for businesses, potentially doubling the number of VoIP connections per line and giving the end customer the realistic opportunity to run multiple services such as voice, video and other media over a single circuit. Our aim was to position these two products as technology viable alternatives to BT's SDSL and leased line services but at a price point which was disruptive in the market. This is all made possible through our advanced Next Generation Network. Annex M extends the capability of ADSL2+ by doubling the number of upstream bits with a corresponding decrease in the less important downstream. Data rates can be as high as 16Mb downstream and up to 2.5Mb upstream under near perfect conditions. These speeds vary depending upon the type of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) being used, local line quality and distance from the exchange. ADSL2+ products have really taken off and are selling well in both Wholesale Broadband and IPVPN channels. We now have many thousands of lines supporting a wide range of applications from VoIP through to the most sophisticated high quality video streaming A significant proportion of our target market can achieve SDSL and E1 speeds using cost effective ADSL CPE. Almost half the installed base can achieve a 2Mb SDSL (M) service which translates into the capability to carry 40 simultaneous voice calls. Furthermore, nine out of 10 customers can achieve an SDSL (M) 1Mb service which translates into the capability to carry 20 simultaneous voice calls. Since launch and the early roll out of ADSL2+ products, enhancements have also been made. We have introduced the SDSL (M) 1.5Mb product which enables 77% of our end customers to achieve 30 simultaneous calls. And a simple product change allows over 25% of resellers achieve an extra 10 simultaneous calls. We have also created additional line profiles which resellers may adapt to suit line conditions, thus offering the customer a stable or greater line throughput. The level of innovation created in the market by the availability of Tiscali's next Generation Network is now very clear A lot of hard work went into developing and bringing these products to market and we are very satisfied that our resellers and their customers are now benefiting significantly, for the end user with increased functionality and capability at a given price point, and for the re-sellers with sustainable high revenue and margin products. |
| I would like to thank... |
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Lance Spencer, Product and Marketing Director for Tiscali Business Services, sheds some light on why he believes Tiscali Business Services might win the Comms Business Network Operator of the Year Award 2009. "Tiscali is very proud to have been nominated as Network Operator of the Year in this year's Comms Business Awards. If we do get the opportunity for 'a Kate Winslet' moment, or even if we don't win it for that matter, there are several people who should be thanked for giving us this chance. Incidentally, if you would like us to win, please help us to do so by visiting: commsbusinessawards.co.uk So why have we been nominated?If I was asked to put our contribution to the industry into words, it would be these: "We made a difference".As I have said before, 2008 was actually a very good year for Tiscali Business Services, so we are very proud to be nominated. I know that goes against the doom and gloom as the economy turned upside down, but in many respects we had been building up terrific momentum in the previous 12 months. The two key aspects of our strategy have been our investment in the network, which then enabled us to introduce several major new products, and our focus on back office systems and operations, which has made us a better organisation to work with. Innovation and new productsThe investment that Tiscali has made in the core network infrastructure has made a big difference. What we have managed to build is a 21st century network long before BT has been able to do so. This is a terrific asset and great platform, upon which we have developed and launched several innovative, ground-breaking and market leading products into the reseller community.We began 2008 by launching the UK's first nationwide ADSL2+ service, bringing the benefits of leading high speed DSL technology to channel partners and their customers The introduction of ADSL2+ opened up the potential for bandwidth hungry applications, such as video, to flourish. This has been a major benefit to companies because businesses simply cannot be restricted nor stifled if they see new ways of doing things, but 'old' technology does not allow that creativity to become real and tangible. With ADSL2+ launched, we then followed up with Annex M and SDSL (M), providing a new package of wholesale telecoms services for our channel partners, bringing faster, more innovative and less expensive services to BT's SDSL and leased lines. Businesses now have at their fingertips greater service options and a host of attractive features, including higher guaranteed bandwidth for businesses, a doubling of VoIP connections per company and the opportunity to run multiple services such as voice, video and other media over a single circuit. Like so many other organisations, we had not predicted a dire economic situation for so many businesses, but by focusing on providing companies with more for less, we believe it has enabled many companies to withstand certain pressures on their business which otherwise could have been far worse. So we have made a difference. Operational improvementsAt the same time, what we also focused on in 2008 was investing in our customer service operation. Driven by a number of factors – not least the fact that we realised we had to improve customer service at a time when Tiscali itself was incorporating a range of acquired businesses – the company undertook a major overhaul of back office operations, including personnel, systems and procedures.The appointment of a Customer Operations Director, Danny Sullivan, whose experience in this area has been invaluable, was also a very positive step. From an operational perspective, Tiscali had so much on its plate in 2007/08 – building the network, acquiring other businesses, integration people and systems, and launching new products - it was hard to know where to start. Taking a deep breath…we introduced more than 40 new technical staff into the company, transitioned the Wholesale and IPVPN support team to the new Technical and Customer Support Centre in Stoke Mandeville, migrated Pipex and Nildram customers to the Tiscali core network and introduced the first phase of the new CRM web front end which meant knitting together four legacy systems. In summary, a lot of hard work went into making these things happen and ensuring that they would make a positive and tangible difference to the experience of our resellers and their customers. Our ongoing customer satisfaction survey has since shown that this has been the case, with improvements in most areas noted. Externally, a comparison of our performance with industry averages during 2008 showed that we had become not only better at fixing faults, we were also much faster at making them. We have made improvements in all areas of the operation and this has made a difference to our customers. We are also now working even more closely with BT Wholesale and Openreach to ensure a smoother and better experience for resellers. In summary, we are very proud of the fact that Tiscali has been nominated and I would sincerely like to thank everyone in the company who made this happen. Lastly, and certainly not least, I would like to thank all of our resellers and partners who have worked alongside us to explore, test, examine and challenge us as a business. This process, which sometimes has been painful but also a lot of fun, has enabled us to produce some of the very best wholesale products on the market today. |
| Discount options for Tiscali Resellers |
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To ensure that our partners offer the best possible prices to their customers, it is important for them to understand the IPVPN price book and contended ADSL pricing. Warren Potts, Head of IPVPN for Tiscali Business Services, outlines the different discounts available.
There are three discount options available to our partners. The first is based on the amount actually being spent. The second is the length of the term of the ADSL circuit. And the third is the underlying infrastructure upon which the ADSL connection has been built. Every quarter we review the annualised spend of our partners and then calculate a price and discount plan for each of them based on this amount. As annualised spend increases and the next band is reached, not only will any new business benefit from being at the new level but all of the partner's existing solutions and appropriate components will be rated at the new banding too. With term discounts, the longer the term committed to (beyond 12 months), the greater the associated discount. Based on our costs, this term is assigned on a circuit by circuit basis, not the IPVPN as a whole, and the term is selected at the point of the ADSL order. For a term of 12 months, no discounts apply, however a partner can choose to have alternate or multiple terms added, up to a maximum of five years. They may also set their default term beyond 12 months. Being able to select a term on a circuit by circuit basis is very useful for partners who know that a site will only be required for a few months rather than a longer period which is assigned to the majority of the other circuits in use. It is also worth touching upon the termination fee. We recognise that some industries, such as construction and retail, can have a relatively high turnover of sites. To ensure flexibility of service and to avoid penalising partners unnecessarily, there is only a 10% early termination fee on contended ADSL. For example, if a circuit has served 26 months of a three year term contract, the partner will only be charged a one month fee for terminating early. This 10% applies to contended ADSL only and all other services are charged full term. For further details please consult the Tiscali price book or contact your Tiscali Account Manager. |
