offered savings of up to 60 percent through a new, international frame relay service, launched yesterday by systems integrator Business Systems Ltd. (BSL).

The high speed, global service will provide private, dedicated voice and data connectivity, using packet-based switching technology available internationally for a number of years.

And the company said yesterday that more firms are likely to take advantage of this alternative to leased line installation as a result of the new service, GlobalConnect.

At present, some 100 firms are using the leased line service provided by Cable & Wireless. Leased lines are used by firms to transfer data, such as e-mail, database access and image transfer, to their international offices.

Stephen Pozzobon, general manager of Business Systems, said that because of an agreement between GlobalConnect and international communications consortium, Global One, local users will be able to connect to more areas than is available through the current service.

Global One is a joint venture of Sprint in the US, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom which was launched about a year ago, providing service to more than 1,200 global locations.

One of the largest providers of frame relay services in the world, Global One has over 30,000 customers in 50 countries.

GlobalConnect's frame relay requires a single connection to create secured lines, based on a shared leased line philosophy, for international end-to-end connectivity at reduced costs than the available private lines.