Cable & Wireless announced that it has won a five-year contract worth more than £5 million with Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline, to manage its pan-European IT and communications network.
Building on an existing relationship, Cable & Wireless will upgrade and manage Ryanair's wide area network (WAN), install and maintain an Internet Protocol (IP) contact centre and provide inbound call services to the new IP contact centre from the UK.
Brona Kernan, Head of IT, Ryanair, said, "This contract represents significant cost savings whilst allowing Ryanair to grow to 34 million passengers across 19 countries. Cable & Wireless has one of the most resilient and scalable networks in Europe. Their ability to cost-effectively match our passenger growth won them this new contract worth more than EUR 8 million."
Noreen O'Hare, country director, Ireland, Cable & Wireless, said, "For nearly a decade, Cable & Wireless has supported Ryanair's growth across Europe. With this latest contract, we have proven that we have the innovation, expertise and capability to continue to support Europe's number one low fares airline. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Ryanair over the coming years."
Under the new contract, Cable & Wireless will extend Ryanair's WAN to more than 100 destinations across Europe using Cable & Wireless Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network with Quality of Service (IP-VPN QoS). Cable & Wireless is also implementing voice over IP (VoIP) between Ryanair's core sites and will eventually roll this out to all destinations to further reduce communications costs.
As part of Cable & Wireless' continued commitment to Ryanair, Cable & Wireless has sponsored one of Ryanair's new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft.
