Sydney's Perpetual Bank Reaps Big Savings on Telecom Costs Using RAD's Access Equipment

• Application
• - Voice and Data Integration
• Environment
• - Corporate network composed of four branches of a financial institution in downtown Sydney, Australia.
• Challenge
• - Create a cost-effective voice and data network between four offices in the same city.
• - Create an 8 Mbps backup system for the bank's two major sites.
• Solution
• - RAD's Megaplex-2100 integrates voice and data traffic between the four sites, thus reducing communications costs. Standard leased lines are connected to RAD's 2 Mbps HTU-E1 HDSL termination units as an alternative to more expensive data circuits.
• - Four IMX-4E1 inverse multiplexers form the basis for an 8 Mbps backup circuit.
• Benefits
• - RAD's HTU-E1 HDSL termination units combined with Megaplex-2100 multiplexers integrate voice and data traffic over standard leased lines, providing a cost-effective alternative to more expensive data circuits.
• - IMX-4E1 multiplexers working over leased lines provide an 8 Mbps backup data circuit. The backup link provides a less expensive alternative to the 34 Mbps fibre main link. Because the backup can be used for live traffic, the main carrier link can eventually be downgraded.

If any organization is serious about saving money, it's a bank. That's why Perpetual Bank, one of Australia's most respected financial institutions, was enthusiastic to learn that RAD's Local Loop modems and inverse multiplexers could deliver substantial savings on their local area telecommunications costs. The cost-cutting suggestions came to them courtesy of Paclink, one of RAD's authorized partners in Australia. After acquiring a local management fund in the summer of 1998, Sydney-based Perpetual wanted to connect Perpetual's three existing offices with those of the newly acquired fund. John Ferrington, Perpetual's telecommunications manager, explained that the company required two different systems: a cost-effective combined voice and data network as well as an 8 Mbps backup data network.

Voice/Data Integration Reduces Costs

RAD's Megaplex-2100 integrates voice and data traffic between the four sites in order to reduce communications costs. Paclink proposed using standard leased lines connected to RAD's 2 Mbps HTU-E1 HDSL termination units as an alternative to expensive data circuits. Paclink and RAD also provided a backup system between the bank's two major sites using four IMX-4E1 inverse multiplexers as the basis for the 8 Mbps circuit.

"Since the network was installed, we've been very happy with the performance of the RAD equipment," Ferrington said. "The HTU-E1 units perform very well over distances of two kilometers between our offices. And the four Megaplex-2100 units have worked faultlessly," he said.

"The RAD-Paclink solution meets all our requirements," Ferrington continued. "The IMX inverse multiplexer working over leased lines provides the most logical and cost-effective 8 Mbps solution," he said. "Our primary link is over 34 Mbps fibre, which is quite expensive. With the RAD-Paclink backup solution, we can achieve the same results less expensively, using less bandwidth. Because we use the backup link for live traffic, the carrier link will eventually be downgraded," he said.

"We estimate that the new RAD network designed and installed by Paclink will save $A30,000 a year, with a payback period of only 12 months," he said, "and we look forward to reaping even greater savings in the future."