Dialog Turns Over Data Networking Operations to BT's GNS.

The article reports that Dialog Information Services Inc. has turned over the management of its data networking operations to British Telecom PLC (BT). The contract, valued at $173 million, outlines Dialog's plans to migrate the online information service currently provided via its private DIALNET network to BT's Global Network Services (GNS). BT's globally managed end-to-end service will allow Dialog to relinquish its 60,000-user private network and increase local access for those users from 40 U.S. cities to 520. Using GNS, Dialog can also further leverage the international information services it recently acquired when its parent company, Knight-Ridder Inc., purchased Data-Star. Through more than 40 dedicated connections, GNS will enable Dialog to provide over I 55,000 active subscribers access to more than 450 databases from a series of mainframe computers located at its headquarters in Palo Alto, California. As the oldest scientific/technical online service, Dialog's roots have been in the research community, providing information to professional searchers and librarians for 20 years.