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BellSouth Data Networking Service Keeps Business Customer Above Water During Florida Storms

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 December 2004, 09:00 CST

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The unprecedented Florida storms that ripped through the state this year impacted homes and businesses in many ways. The unexpected events taught Sy's Supplies, a building supplies retailer with locations throughout Florida, that a flexible and secure network helps ensure business continuity in challenging circumstances.

When Juli Swanson, office manager - Sy's Supplies, drove by her company's headquarters building in West Palm Beach the day after Hurricane Frances tore through the area, she saw a roof shell peeled back, standing water in the office space and papers and materials strewn everywhere. She expected operations to be suspended for several days.

"When we plugged our phone system into the generator to test our capabilities, we were surprised with working dial tone. This prompted us to test our data network as well," said Swanson. "The BellSouth Network VPN (virtual private network) was fully operational and our five additional locations were all able to access it, meaning we were in business."

Sy's Supplies relies on connectivity between each of its locations for all operational data including point of sale transaction and inventory control systems. With the network intact, the business was able to provide crucial building materials to contractors overwhelmed with work following the storm.

"Without our data network, we would have still been focused on the restoration of our headquarters building, but instead we were able to focus on getting supplies to contractors that needed them," continued Swanson. "The network continuity has allowed Sy's Supplies to allocate more time to its core business and strategic direction, even in the wake of a disaster."

Due to the roof damage, the flooding, and the lack of power, Sy's Supplies immediately moved its headquarters to a nearby empty warehouse. A neighbor tenant allowed the company to borrow its high-speed DSL connection to access its VPN network. Many of the employees were also able to link to the corporate network from home.

"The primary benefit of BellSouth(R) Managed Network VPN is the creation of a wide area network for customers with flexibility to connect using multiple access methods," said Mark Kaish - vice president of next generation solutions, BellSouth. "This gives cost efficiency to businesses that have individual locations with different needs and, like with Sy's Supplies, it provides unmatched flexibility and security to access corporate information from anywhere."

Many businesses manage multiple office locations, with various access types (DSL, Ethernet, ATM, Frame Relay, Private Line) connecting those sites to the company headquarters. There are also often remote users working from home or on the road that need access to critical company information. In the past, companies had to self-integrate and manage these customized networks to allow branch locations to communicate with one another. BellSouth Managed Network VPN Service, launched in 2003 and recently enhanced with additional security and service levels, enables customers to shift responsibility for network integration and configuration of wide area networks (WANs) to the service provider. The VPN Service is transported over BellSouth's private Internet Protocol backbone, which utilizes the flexibility of MPLS (Multi- Protocol Label Switching) to allow internetworking of multiple access methods.

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and a parent company of Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless voice and data provider.

Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers(R), residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial up and high speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R).

More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/ .

BellSouth

CONTACT: Todd Smith of BellSouth, +1-404-829-8723, ortodd.smith@bellsouth.com

Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/095650.html

Source: PRNewswire

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