Stockholm // 2003-09-04

Öresundskraft chooses PacketFront for open broadband network

Tomorrow’s broadband is being created today in Helsingborg. Companies, organisations and households are gaining access to high-speed data transfer in one of the country’s few genuinely open urban networks. Power company Öresundskraft owns and operates the network and is responsible for its expansion. PacketFront is supplying active components for access networks and platforms.

Helsingborg currently has one of the country’s few genuinely open urban networks. This brings tremendous benefits to the customer. An agreement with Öresundskraft gives access to the network itself, after which the customer can choose freely between a number of service providers that are responsible for the content of the network – such as Internet access, firewalls, VPN solutions, server operation, and different types of business system. In other words, the customer chooses the services but not the network owner. This means that whoever is dissatisfied with an Internet provider, for instance, can change without additional cost. The open network also means that several providers and suppliers can compete on similar services. This will enable the customer to compare different offerings, while the free competition on the network presses prices down.

" The network owner role suits us well," says Diedrik Fälth, product manager at Öresundskraft. " Our core business consists of owning and running networks, not selling Internet access. The services will be sold in competition with others, and when customers change supplier they shouldn’t have to change their infrastructure too."

The network is completely built using fibre optic technology, while the active access component is based on PacketFront’s award-winning control and provisioning system BECS, and purpose-built broadband routers . The solution means that Helsingborg’s urban network is well equipped for the future. It is likely that broadband will soon be the carrier of TV and telephony and not just Internet. The Helsingborg network has more than enough capacity to cope with this, which is not always the case with simpler, cheaper broadband solutions.

" Öresundskraft was thinking early on in terms of open broadband networks," says PacketFront CEO Martin Thunman. " And since our solution is the leading one on the market in this area, we’re naturally delighted and proud to have Öresundskraft’s confidence."

" But the project’s main winners are the residents of Helsingborg, who are getting a broadband network that will allow them to enjoy all the advantages that a true, open network will be able to offer," he adds.

About Öresundskraft
Öresundskraft is an expansive power company based in Helsingborg. The Group currently has some 350 employees and supplies almost 200,000 customers with electricity, district heating, natural gas and district cooling. Öresundskraft also offers a wide range of services in communication, electricity trading, and maintenance. Further details can be found on www.oresundskraft.se. For information about Öresundskraft’s investment in the Helsingborg network, click on www.stadenistaden.com