Plus: Equant to provide IP VPNs to Stride-Rite; AT&T wins Dick’s contract.
Intelsat has agreed to acquire satellite communications rival PanAmSat Holding for $3.2 billion, creating an industry heavyweight that will have 53 satellites covering 220 countries, the companies said last week.
Both companies provide broadband Internet, telephony and video services. Intelsat has historically been strongest in voice and data, while PanAmSat is a big provider of video services to cable TV companies, including CNN and MTV. That makes their businesses complementary, they say. The companies say they hope to close the deal in six months to a year.
Equant announced last week it has signed a multiyear deal with Stride Rite to provide the children’s footwear retailer with a secure IP VPN to 264 stores around the U.S. The carrier would not reveal the financial details of the contract.
Equant is working with GoRemote Internet Communications to provide Stride Rite with a secure DSL service to the majority of the retailer’s store locations. Stride Rite was looking for a point-of-sale network to replace its dated dial-up system. With the new DSL-based IP VPN service, Stride Rite plans to add applications that will automate its gift card and customer loyalty systems, which was not possible over the old narrowband network. Stride Rite is building on its current contract with Equant under which the international service provider supports an MPLS-based IP VPN in North America and China.
AT&T announced last week that it has won a $1.2-million contract from Dick’s Sporting Goods to provide an IP VPN connecting stores, corporate offices and distribution centers across the U.S. Under the one-year deal, AT&T will upgrade services supporting 239 locations, enabling access to the carrier’s high-speed backbone and providing application support.
Dick’s, with the acquisition of Galyan’s Trading Co., has locations in 34 states and had $2.1 billion in sales in 2004.
