BellSouth Corp. Monday announced augmenting its data networking portfolio with a sixth wholesale Digital Subscriber Line service offering symmetrical up and downstream access speeds.

Targeted toward network and Internet service providers the new 192 Kbps by 192 Kbps DSL offering is another facet of BellSouth's broadband business plan to deliver a variety of data networking solutions for high-speed access to e-commerce applications.

BellSouth's DSL portfolio expansion is designed to offer cost-effective broadband solutions for Wide Area Networks, teleworkers and dial-up replacement.

Keith Holmes, BellSouth director of wholesale broadband marketing, said the symmetrical service offering is perfect for connecting secure WANs.

"Our wholesale customers have been fast adopters of DSL and are now demanding the 192 Kbps x 192 Kbps offering for cost-efficient connectivity for subscribers," Holmes said. "This new offering is ideal for network service providers seeking to serve a greater number of users with high-speed Internet access, virtual private networks, remote WAN access and more from a single high-speed connection."

BellSouth intends to market the new service to ISPs in its 31 major markets throughout the Southeast. In order to produce the wholesale offerings, BellSouth is continuing its work to condition its copper lines for DSL access.

BellSouth's DSL technology is currently available to 8.1 million lines and the Southeast. Its DSL equipment is deployed in approximately 360 central offices and 2,400 remote terminals.

In related news, BellSouth Monday announced its managed virtual private network service will be available for businesses in August. Its VPN services features remote access and dedicated, site-to-site connectivity throughout the U.S. as part of BellSouth's existing business relationship with WorldCom, Inc. affiliate UUNet.

The program is designed to offer world-class connectivity to meet customer-specific Service Level Agreements for demanding e-commerce applications, while maintaining flexible third party ISP access.

David Abrahamson, BellSouth e-business vice president said its VPN service provides cost-effective, flexible, secure connectivity for workers connecting through remote branch offices.

"Add to that the BellSouth guarantees of reliability and performance, and chief information officers can re-focus their technical resources where it matters most, to their own day-to-day business operations," Abrahamson said.

Guaranteeing 99.9 percent uptime, the program allows secure transactions to pass through public Internet connection to secure private locations.