CS 1st Boston Orders High-Tech Phone Systems for Traders

contract to BT North America Inc. to install more than 1,000 telephone systems for its New York City trading operations. Though the exact value of the contract was not disclosed, the agreement for the sophisticated telephones, known in industry parlance as turrets, is the biggest sale of such equipment in more than two years, BT North America officials said. The company is subsidiary of British Telecommunications. Luther J. Terry, managing director of CS First Boston, said the deal would bring "state-of-the-art hardware, software, and cabling to provide the foundation to deliver advanced technologies." As part of the project, announced last week, CS First Boston will install BT North America's new cable design for trader turrets, called Megalink. The high-capacity digital line can transmit up to two million bits per second to each trader's desk. "Through Megalink, BT provides the superhighway for technology staff at customers' sites to be creative," said Marc Steatham, marketing manager for trading systems at BT North America. "They can now offer whatever services their traders need to be more productive - from broadcast-quality video to the ability to talk over an intercom with their associates continents away."

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