Cable&Wireless Worldwide Signs Five Year Partnership Deal With SONI (System Operator for Northern Ireland)

BELFAST and LONDON, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cable&Wireless Worldwide today announces it has renewed and extended its contract to manage the Operational Telecoms Network used by System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) following an open competitive tendering process. In addition to existing work, Cable&Wireless Worldwide will connect planned wind farms to the grid.

As Transmission System Operator (TSO) in Northern Ireland, SONI ensures the safe, secure, reliable and economic operation of the electricity transmission grid in Northern Ireland. In co-operation with EirGrid, SONI also administrate the wholesale Single Electricity Market for the island of Ireland through SEMO.

With the uninterrupted provision of electricity being paramount, it is vital that SONI's mission critical services delivered on the Operational Telecoms Network are always available, as any downtime could have a direct impact on services to electricity customers in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the contract being awarded to Cable&Wireless Worldwide, Nick Fullerton, Commercial Manager, SONI said: "The security and integrity of the Operational Telecoms Network is critical to the SONI business. The fact that Cable&Wireless Worldwide did not have one single outage during seven years of the previous contract is testimony to the skills and expertise of their engineers and systems."

Cable&Wireless Worldwide provides 24/7 management of the Operational Telecoms Network and has a team of dedicated engineers continually monitoring the network and maintaining its operation. Well known for its highly resilient systems that operate under the most arduous conditions, Cable&Wireless Worldwide works with many of the world's top utilities. This contract win was secured through a full OJEU procurement process, and will also see Cable&Wireless Worldwide deliver a full voice and data infrastructure, including the roll out of IP Telephony to SONI's control room and all SONI sites.

Sean Mahon, Managing Director, Enterprise, for Europe, Middle East & Africa, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, added: "Our partnership with SONI is an excellent endorsement of the skills and expertise within Cable&Wireless Worldwide and the mission critical services we offer. We understand the implications of a failure on the Operational Telecoms Network and have developed a highly flexible system that allows us to upscale, should the network come under pressure at certain times; such as inclement weather conditions. The public can rest assured that they have SONI and Cable&Wireless Worldwide working together to ensure the continued supply of electricity throughout Northern Ireland, whatever the conditions."

Notes to Editors

For more information about Cable&Wireless Worldwide, please visit http://www.cw.com

About SONI

SONI are a wholly owned subsidiary of EirGrid plc, the Transmission System Operator (TSO) for the Republic of Ireland. Based in Belfast, SONI ensure the safe, secure, reliable and economic operation of the high voltage electricity grid in Northern Ireland and in cooperation with EirGrid

SONI also administrate the wholesale Single Electricity Market (SEM) for the island of Ireland.

About Cable&Wireless Worldwide

Cable&Wireless Worldwide (LSE: CW.) aims to be the first-choice provider of mission critical communications for large users of telecoms. Cable&Wireless Worldwide is one of the world's leading critical communication companies, providing a range of high-quality managed voice, data and IP-based services and applications to large corporates, multinational companies, governments, carrier customers and resellers across Ireland, the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and North America.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide is the first company to offer access to a Next Generation Network (NGN) in either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. This NGN, stretching to over 500,000km across the World, allows customers access to Cable&Wireless Worldwide's Multi-Service Platform (MSP) providing highly resilient, secure, super fast and extremely efficient access to network services to over 153 countries across the world. All without having to leave the Cable&Wireless Worldwide network.

The company's Multi-Service Platform, an IP-based next-generation platform that operates across the NGN, offers a single environment on which voice and data applications can be converged to drive business efficiencies.

    To find out more, visit http://www.cw.com

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SOURCE Cable&Wireless Worldwide and SONI