XO Communications (OTC BB: XOHO.OB) has advanced its standing in the public sector services space with a six-year, $45 million managed services contract with the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Procured under the Telecom Integrated Postal Network (TIPN) contract, XO will provide a number of managed network services, including design and engineering, onsite installation, router management, and managed MPLS IP-VPN services to more than 1,400 USPS facilities.
By leveraging XO's MPLS IP-VPN service, the U.S. Postal Service will be able to converge all of its voice, video and data communications, not to mention prioritize mission and non-mission critical applications, over one common IP-based network.
As the first piece of business XO is going to do with USPS, Tripp O'Hara, Director of Federal Solutions Group, XO Communications said in an interview with FierceTelecom that they "are in further discussions with the USPS around other technology roadmaps over the next 12 to 18 to 24 months, and seeing where we can help them out," adding that with "voice solutions like our Enterprise SIP offering we (are) very appealing to organizations to make them more efficient."
However, USPS is not the only agency interested in XO's IP-based solutions. O'Hara said XO is having conversations with a number of other agencies about moving to more of an IP-based voice solution.
While XO not the only service provider to provide MPLS-based VPN services to the agency (both AT&T and Verizon provide services to the USPS under the contract as well), the win provides XO with another testament of its growing two-pronged direct and partner public sector sales strategy.
"It's a critical win for XO and for the federal solutions group," O'Hara said. "It reiterates our ability to roll out large networks for large federal agencies, and (USPS) has one of the largest WANs in the world with over 36,000 locations."
For more:
- see the release
Related articles:
Competitive carriers carve out public sector service niche
Tripp O'Hara, Director of Federal Solutions Group, XO Communications
AT&T Government wins VPN contract extension from USPS