Bay City, Michigan-based Concentric Research Corp is buying $9.5m of network equipment and services from the Racal-Datacom Inc arm of Racal Electronics Plc to build a Frame Relay network for its revolutionary new BBS Direct service. BBS Direct is intended to revolutionise the way subscribers connect to the 60,000 electronic bulletin board services in the US: instead of paying long-distance telephone charges they will be able to pay a flat rate of $30 a month for unlimited access via CRC’s network. They will dial a local telephone number to connect to the new CRC Network, a dedicated data network that will use Racal-Data equipment and AT&T Corp InterSpan Frame Relay service.The official launch of the service is planned for late September, initially in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, expanding to 350 points of presence in the next 18 months. Racal Electronics Plc said yesterday that its CougarNet secure radio systems that have been bought for various branches of the UK Home Office now exceed UKP27m, marking a major success in converting military radio technology to civil use.
