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Colt, Steve Hughes
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LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Colt today announces that it has been recognised by Gartner for the fourth consecutive year in its ‘Critical Capabilities for Pan-European Network Services’ report. The world’s leading information technology research and advisory company marked all of Colt’s capabilities in the Excellent Category, among the industry’s leading vendors.

“Critical capabilities” are attributes that differentiate products or services, such as Ethernet services, SIP Trunks, or Managed MPLS VPNs, in a class in terms of their quality and performance. Gartner recommends that users consider this set of critical capabilities as some of the most important criteria for network services acquisition decisions.

Rajiv Datta, Chief Technology Officer at Colt: “In an increasingly digital world, business needs are rapidly evolving and require agile networks that can respond quickly to change. 2016 is the start of a major transition from more traditional network services to software defined networking (SDN). Companies throughout Europe, and increasingly Asia, are looking for a proven network partner to help transform their business while still ensuring service quality and value.”

“The Gartner Critical Capabilities for Pan-European Network Services report provides an excellent industry barometer and is a trusted benchmark of performance. Gartner reports have always been a key proof-point for any enterprise or partner considering new services, we believe Colt’s performance in this report is a testament to our ongoing investment in service, coverage and capabilities.”

Gartner’s research report assessed vendors’ product capabilities in four critical network services use cases: Midsize European Network, Large European Network, Multicountry Branch Network and Core City Backbone. A total of seven products/ services are rated as part of the use cases, including Ethernet Services, SIP Trunks and Managed MPLS VPNs.

Colt’s overall product score in the Gartner report was 4.20 out of 5 (4 and above is rated by Gartner as Excellent).

The company’s recognition in Gartner’s Critical Capabilities for Pan-European Network Services research is the latest in a series of recent recognition and awards. Colt has recently won MEF Ethernet excellence awards for the eleventh consecutive year, celebrating success in five categories. It was also awarded at the Global Carrier Awards at Capacity Europe 2015 in the ‘Best Asian Project” for DCNet, “Best voice service innovation – developed market” for VoiceYou, and “Special Recognition Award: Best Strategic Acquisition” for the merger with KVH.

This follows a year of continued investment and expansion of Colt’s network, focusing on connecting key metro hubs where bandwidth-intensive industries are based, including media, capital markets and professional services.

Colt has a strong Western European network footprint and recently announced expansions to its long-distance network in Ireland, the Iberian Peninsula, Northern Europe and the Netherlands as well as two more POPs in the U.K. and a new MAN in Genoa, Italy.

Gartner disclaimer

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

ENDS

About Colt

Colt provides network, voice, and data centre services to thousands of businesses around the world, allowing them to focus on delivering their business goals instead of the underlying infrastructure. Customers include 18 of the top 25 banks and diversified financial groups and 19 out of the top 25 companies in both global media and telecoms industries (Forbes 2000 list, 2014). In addition, Colt works with over 50 exchange venues and 13 European central banks.

Colt operates across Europe, Asia and North America with connections into over 200 cities globally. It completed the acquisition of KVH in 2014 – which now operates under the Colt brand – an integrated data centre and communications services business, with headquarters in Tokyo and operations in Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore.