BT has signed a deal with office equipment retailer Staples to provide an IP Virtual Private Network (VPN) across its European operations.
The deal will see BT connect stores in seven European countries – the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom – into a single secure wide area network (WAN) environment. It will run on BT’s global BT IP Connect platform.
The networked IT services contract will run for four years, BT said.
"We are working towards one single, European wide-area network connecting all our offices and stores across Europe," said Kevin Milliken, senior vice-president and head of Information Technology at Staples, Europe.
"We chose BT as our primary European supplier because of their reliability, flexibility and ability to offer us a high-bandwidth, cost-effective wide area network – regardless of underlying technology or office location," he added.
Edwin Hageman, CEO BT Benelux, added: "I am pleased to announce this contract with Staples. The pan-European scope of the services once again confirms our strength in delivering international networked IT services, wherever our customers want us to go. It also underlines the continued investment we’re making in our network and services to offer our customers industry leading technology and support."
Staples is headquartered just outside Boston in the US and has stores throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It pulls in $25bn in sales a year and employs around 90,000 people.
BT also recently announced a similar deal with Triumph, a Swiss manufacturer of lingerie, underwear and ‘shape wear’ for women and men.
