Qwest Communications
International Inc. announced this week a 10-year, $430 million contract under which it will build a custom Virtual Private Network (VPN) for the U.S. government.
The company said it will provide VPN services covering fiber, hardware, engineering, communications, and network management in its first custom VPN product offering.
The project will employ the Qwest Macro Capacity Fiber Network and its TeraPOP (Terabit Points of Presence) network design.
“The federal government is an enormous business opportunity with significant critical networking and communications requirements, and Qwest is pleased to make a bold entrance into this market by providing a custom VPN to the nation’s largest employer,” said Joseph P. Nacchio, president and CEO of Qwest.
“Not only is Qwest setting the standard for delivering the next generation data network infrastructure for businesses, but Qwest’s involvement in Internet2 and other research and academic backbones, such as CALRen2, mark an aggressive move to develop secure private networks that will advance these institutions in the information age.”
Denver-based Qwest’s high-capacity, native IP fiber optic network is designed to deliver data, video, and voice connectivity to residential and business clients, including communications service providers.
The network is expected to provide service to more than 125 U.S. cities by the end of 1999.
