Nortel Networks announced Thursday (Aug 31st) a $26m contract from Taiwanese venture eASPNet to design and build its ASP and Internet data centre infrastructure.
The contract is the third ASP infrastructure contract announced by Nortel this year, and confirms the vendor’s global reach, after chalking up previous customer wins in North America and Europe. At approximately 105,000 square feet, eASPNet expects the carrier-grade Internet data centre to be one of the largest in Asia.
Recently formed by a consortium of blue chip Taiwanese and Asian companies, eASPNet plans to offer enterprise
customers — initially in Taiwan and eventually across Asia — a full range of eBusiness and ASP services. Said to be capitalized at $50m, the venture is one of several strongly-backed ASPs emerging in Taiwan. See related Internet News story on asia.internet.com, Taiwan-Backed ASP Alliance Joins B2B Fray, Aug 29th 2000.
“There is enormous enthusiasm for the Internet economy in Taiwan and China, and eASPNet’s ‘rent-an-application’ model offers enterprise customers access to high-value eBusiness applications at significant cost savings, as well as the freedom to focus on core business issues,” said Yu-Lon Chiao, eASPNet’s chairman.
The contract is smaller in value than Nortel’s previous ASP deals, where the vendor is providing end-to-end network infrastructure as well as building out data centre facilities. Its contract with US-based ASP ClearData Communications, Inc. is the largest announced to date, with a value of $300m – see related ASP News story on internetnews.com, Arizona ASP Buys Big to Build Out, Aug 2nd 2000.
In February, Nortel revealed its first ASP contract — subsequently valued at $200m — to build the infrastructure for German ASP startup EinsteiNet. See related ASPnews.com story, Nortel delivers German ASP, Feb 4th 2000.
Nortel officials last week told ASP News that further deals in Australia, North America will soon be announced, and hinted that a major project is under discussion in Latin America.
“This association with eASPNet is another significant step in strengthening our regional and global lead in building the high-performance Internet,” said Robert Mao, president and chief executive officer of Nortel Networks China.
In association with several industry allies, Nortel Networks recently unveiled a Managed Application Services
initiative, bringing together the elements ASPs require to enable a powerful and efficient strategy and solutions portfolio. See related story on ASPnews.com, Nortel Recruits Heavyweights to ASP Platform, Jun 15th 2000.
“I would argue very strongly that we have committed the most resources of any of the network equipment vendors [to the ASP market],” director of ASP solutions marketing Jim Dondero told ASP News in an exclusive interview last week.
Read further analysis of Nortel’s ASP technology strategy in September’s ASP News Review newsletter, available exclusively to subscribers.
