AT&T Business Solutions Completes Fourth Quarter With New Features for the AT&T Telepresence Solution and Moves to Expand Its Wi-Fi Capabilities Through the Company's Wayport Acquisition
Portfolio Enhancements Provide Strong Platform for Growth in '09
DALLAS, Jan. 28 -- New features for the AT&T Telepresence Solution and the acquisition of Wi-Fi service provider Wayport, Inc., capped a successful fourth quarter 2008 for AT&T Business Solutions (ABS). These accomplishments, as well as key sales wins and enhancements to its business services portfolio, helped the business unit enter 2009 on firm footing.
The enhancements to the AT&T Telepresence Solution, based on Cisco TelePresence technology, now provide unique multipoint functionality and highly secure intercompany capabilities that allow users at multiple locations and from different companies to connect with each other. These new capabilities represent the latest milestone in ABS's efforts to provide customers with powerful and cost-effective collaboration tools while helping decrease costs associated with business travel.
Also during the fourth quarter 2008, AT&T announced two acquisitions to expand its wireless mobility capabilities. The acquisition of Wayport added local Wi-Fi network management, emerging applications support and infrastructure expertise to its world-class communications capabilities. The deal, which was completed in December 2008, brings the number of AT&T domestic hotspots to nearly 20,000 -- the most of any U.S. provider. Globally, it has more than 80,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. And by the end of the quarter, the business unit transitioned thousands of Starbucks company-operated stores in the U.S. to AT&T Wi-Fi(SM) service, strengthening the ability to personalize broadband access across devices and customer locations.
The company also said it had entered into an agreement to acquire Centennial Communications, a regional provider of wireless and wired communications services based in New Jersey. The transaction will enhance the company's wireless coverage for customers in largely rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast regions of the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
AT&T Hosting and Application Services expanded its global hosting footprint during the quarter with the opening of an internet data center (IDC) in Bangalore India -- its first in India -- and increased capacity in five additional markets including Dallas, Boston, Amsterdam, Singapore and Shanghai. The expansions in Amsterdam and Singapore were completed to augment the "super IDCs" previously announced with AT&T Synaptic Hosting, a next- generation platform that creates a virtual IT infrastructure in which business customers can receive computing processing, services and support instantaneously and at scale. ABS further strengthened its application services portfolio by rolling out a subscription-based Oracle PeopleSoft payroll and payroll tax solution for midsize businesses that combines the software with its business process outsourcing services, its innovative utility computing platform and its application management capabilities.
Another highlight during the quarter involved the expansion of its global Ethernet footprint through the availability of its global virtual private LAN service (VPLS) into 14 countries in Europe and Asia. The service, called AT&T OPT-E-WAN(SM), enables businesses to link multiple locations -- whether across the city or around the world -- with the ease and efficiency of a flat Ethernet wide area network. In addition to broad coverage in the U.S., the service is now available in Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland in Europe; and Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and Japan in Asia Pacific.
ABS also recorded significant sales wins in the fourth quarter, highlighted by a 10-year, $600 million agreement for network services with the state of Tennessee and a five-year contract with the state of Georgia, worth a projected $346 million, to provide managed voice and data services across state government agencies.
"Throughout 2008, ABS launched key transformational services such as our Digital Media Solutions, AT&T Telepresence Solution, Synaptic Hosting and Unified Communications," said Ronald E. Spears, president and chief executive officer, AT&T Business Solutions. "And by the fourth quarter, we added features that enable us to offer customers complete solutions in these critical areas. These enhancements, along with capabilities acquired through strategic alliances and acquisitions, have given us a strong platform for growth in 2009."
ABS provides networking services and solutions for business customers and organizations globally. Its customers include every company listed in the Fortune 1000; large, medium, and small businesses; wholesale customers; and U.S. governmental agencies.
During the fourth quarter 2008, ABS made the following updates to its enterprise portfolio of services for business customers:
Voice Over IP (VoIP)
-- AT&T Voice DNA -- Site Survivability: AT&T VoIP Services now
includes site survivability as an optional feature with AT&T Voice
DNA. This feature provides customers with continuity of service in
the event of a failure in their connectivity to the AT&T VoIP
network, by routing off-site calls over the public switched
telephone network.
-- AT&T IP Flexible Reach Technical Assistance: The enhanced
implementation of AT&T IP Flexible Reach gives customers optional
project management, site readiness surveys and on-site installation
services.
-- IP Telephony and LAN Service Country Expansion: The business unit
expanded the reach of this LAN and IP-PBX management service beyond
the U.S. to include an additional 55 countries.
-- AT&T IP Toll-Free Interoperability and Throughput Expansion: Four
IP contact center vendors (Aspect, Avaya, Genesys and Nortel)
successfully completed interoperability testing of their latest
contact center solutions with AT&T IP Toll-Free services.
Interoperability certification allows customers using solutions from
a variety of suppliers to adopt session initiated protocol (SIP)
based services faster, avoiding any disruption to their contact
center applications. AT&T VoIP Service now has an increased maximum
concurrent call throughput, allowing up to 1,000 concurrent calls
over a T3 connection.
Customer Experience
-- Unified Agreement for Billing: ABS launched a unified agreement to
establish a common set of terms and conditions for all product
portfolios worldwide. With the unified agreement, customers
experience less paperwork and simpler and faster contracting.
Enterprise Mobility
-- Fleet Management Options: ABS enhanced its enterprise mobility
portfolio to include a comprehensive suite of fleet-management suite
of offerings with the addition of in-vehicle options through
extended relationships with TeleNav and Xora. These enhancements
help businesses with mobile workers and mobile assets to have better
visibility into the locations of their vehicles or the status of
deliveries, improving the overall management of fleet operations.
-- AT&T Mobile Extension Service: ABS also announced the availability
of AT&T Mobile Extension -- a premises-based solution that extends
Internet Protocol (IP) private branch exchange (PBX) features to
wireless devices. Customers using an IP-PBX from Cisco Systems, Inc.
can add software that will enable this capability in compatible
wireless devices. ABS will then contract for wireless minutes to be
used for fixed mobile convergence calling between the PBX and the
enabled wireless device. It is a demonstration of adding wireless
access to core business solutions that will enable future unified
communications initiatives.
-- AT&T Global Network Client for Remote Access Service: Enhancements
to the latest version of the AT&T Global Network Client version 7.6
include:
-- The ability to prevent multi-homing (e.g., concurrent fixed
wireline and mobile broadband access). This feature makes it
impossible for a user to have IP access through more than one
physical interface if the connection was established with the
AT&T Global Network Client.
-- Support for monitoring the NetMotion virtual private network
(VPN) client, a third-party VPN client software.
-- The ability to select preferred cellular service type (3G or
2G) and configure access warnings for cellular roaming
connections.
-- The ability to centrally manage and dynamically update global
network client customizations.
-- The ability to download software and access point updates in
the background.
-- Plug-and-play support for AT&T LaptopConnect devices now
available from AT&T Mobility's AT&T Communications Manager 6.9
desktop client software.
-- Tethering support for the BlackBerry(R) Bold(TM).
Hosting and Applications Services:
-- PCI Certification Audit: AT&T Hosting and Application Services
successfully completed a third-party audit and were found compliant
with payment card industry (PCI) data security standards. Being
compliant saves customers time and money because they can leverage
ABS's certified audit materials in their own PCI audits.
-- Hosting and Application Management Services: Enhancements made
during the fourth quarter include:
-- Supplementing the hosting and application management
capabilities by adding new products that include Oracle(R)
Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and IBM Websphere
Application Server.
-- New capabilities for the AT&T BusinessDirect(R) customer portal
that streamline change management processes and improve
customer cycle time.
-- The addition of service level agreements for the AT&T Virtual
Dedicated and Managed Dedicated Server Offerings supporting
99.9 percent uptime.
Data Services:
-- New Ultravailable (UV) Network Service Options: ABS expanded the
reach of its Ultravailable Network Service with two new options.
Both offer the full complement of the UV network's monitoring and
management tool sets, expert support and visibility through
BusinessDirect. The options are:
-- Service Option 2 (UV2) -- Allows customers to build a SONET
ring, managed by ABS, with room to grow to a second wavelength
without additional upfront cost. Includes support for non-SONET
protocols such as Storage and native Ethernet.
-- Service Option 3 (UV3) -- Allows ABS to design, build, monitor
and manage an Ultravailable Ring using customer-provided fiber
and fiber maintenance. Also, monitoring and management of
customers' existing network can be provided.
-- AT&T Wavelength Private Line: AT&T Wavelength Private Line, a
point-to-point wavelength service available nationwide, was also
added. AT&T Wavelength Private Line is a versatile, long-haul,
monitored and managed service that can support multiple protocols
that include gigabit Ethernet, 10 gigabit Ethernet LAN (local area
network) and WAN (wide area network) PHY and configurations.
Security Services:
-- Web Security Services Enhancements: ABS enhanced the AT&T Web
Security services to include features for email protection services
that were previously available only in the AT&T Secure E-Mail
Gateway Services offering. The new features include message security
to provide spam and malware protection, message discovery for
archiving, and message encryption for policy-based encryption. Other
enhancements include the addition of Anywhere+, a Web malware
scanning and Web filtering services feature for remote users.
ABS Fourth-Quarter 2008 Announcements
During the fourth quarter 2008, the ABS unit issued these press releases (from most recent):
AT&T Business Solutions Offering Small Businesses 18 Mbps Download Speeds over U-verse Platform in More than 70 Markets (Dec. 18)
High Speed Internet Service Also Includes New Static IP Address Option, Providing Enhanced Security and Additional Capabilities for Small Businesses http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26412
AT&T Business Solutions Positioned in Analyst Firm's Leaders Quadrant for Pan-European Network Service Providers (Dec. 18) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26413
AT&T Advances Wi-Fi Strategy With Completion of Wayport Acquisition (Dec. 12)
As Wi-Fi Use Surges, Company Leads in Deployment of Applications That Personalize Broadband Experience, Enable Business Efficiencies http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26395
AT&T Opens First Data Center in India (Dec. 11) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26393
AT&T and Oracle Combine Forces to Deliver a Subscription-Based PeopleSoft Solution for Midsize Businesses (Dec. 10)
New Offer Builds on Long-Standing Relationship Between the Two Companies http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26388
AT&T Enhances AT&T Telepresence Solution With Multipoint Intercompany Cisco TelePresence Capabilities (Dec 8) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26384
AT&T Announces Expanded Availability of Global Virtual Private Local Area Network Service into 14 Countries in Europe and Asia Pac (Dec. 1) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26340
AT&T Expands Presence in Middle East and Africa Market, Appoints New Sales Head (Nov. 26)
Kevin Maher appointed Regional Vice President as global networking leader continues to grow in MEA region: Saudi Arabia node latest addition to AT&T's global network; new AT&T office to open in Dubai's Internet City http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26339
AT&T to Provide Network Services for the State of Georgia (Nov. 20)
AT&T to Increase Communication Velocity and Advance Networking Capabilities for State Government with Estimated $346 Million Contract http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26330
AT&T Announces First Super Internet Data Center in Asia (Nov. 19)
Regional hub in Singapore to deliver AT&T Synaptic Hosting(SM) -- next- generation utility computing services for businesses http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26327
AT&T Wins Capacity Magazine's 'Best Global Wholesale Offering' Award (Nov. 17) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26321
AT&T Recognized in Industry Study for Leadership in Small Business Online Customer Experience (Nov. 12)
AT&T's Onward Small Biz Web Site Leads Telecom Industry with Enhanced Community Resources, Rich Multimedia and Targeted Content http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26307
Social Networking in the Workplace Increases Efficiency (Nov. 11)
European survey reveals Germany leads adoption rate as Great Britain lags behind http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26293
AT&T Hosting Regional Solution Provider Recruiting Events in 10 Major Markets (Nov. 10)
AT&T Alliance Program Opportunity 'Road Show' Offers Face-to-Face Forums to Help Solution Providers Build Their Business http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26294
AT&T Adds E-Commerce Capabilities to Its Professional Hosting Services for Small and Midsize Businesses (Nov. 10)
Company Offering Enterprise-Proven, Cost-Effective Web Site Solutions Down-Market to Smaller Businesses http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26289
AT&T to Acquire Centennial Communications, Enhance Service for Wireless Customers and Businesses (Nov. 7) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26288
AT&T to Acquire Wayport; Combined Wi-Fi Networks to Provide Connectivity in More Places (Nov. 6)
Millions of AT&T Customers to Get Free Wi-Fi Access at Nearly 20,000 U.S. Hotspots http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26285
BlackBerry Bold Goes On Sale Today in the U.S. Exclusively at AT&T Stores, Other AT&T Sales Channels (Nov. 4)
Breakthrough BlackBerry Smartphone Is Backed by Nation's Fastest 3G Network and Tens of Thousands of Consumer and Business Services and Applications Through MEdia Mall and Third-Party Providers; BlackBerry Bold Customers Receive Free AT&T Wi-Fi http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26283
AT&T And Kangaroo TV to Introduce Video On Demand at the 2008 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix (Oct. 30) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26366
AT&T Recognized by Frost & Sullivan With 2008 North America Customer Value Award for Full-Service Business Customer Portal (Oct. 27)
AT&T BusinessDirect Honored for Depth and Quality of Data, Ease of Use and Innovative Features http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26240
AT&T Announces Winners for 2008 Big Mobile on Campus Challenge (Oct. 27)
National Mobile Application Development Contest for Higher Education Seeds Innovative Ideas http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26237
AT&T Completes Next-Generation IP/MPLS Backbone Network, World's Largest Deployment of 40-Gigabit Connectivity (Oct. 23)
Company Researchers Continue to Drive Future Network Evolution With Record-Setting 17 Terabit-Per-Second Capacity Test http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26230
AT&T Positioned as Leader in Enterprise Telecommunications Services by Leading Market Research Firm (Oct. 21) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26228
AT&T Establishes $600 Million in Network Services for the State of Tennessee (Oct. 20)
AT&T Delivers Communications Velocity and Enhanced Networking Capabilities Across All State Agencies http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26215
AT&T Recognized by Independent Research Firm as a Leader in Domestic North American Managed MPLS Services (Oct. 17) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26214
AT&T Wins $223 Million Telecommunications Contract From the County of Los Angeles (Oct. 15)
AT&T to Deliver Advanced Voice and Data Services to 1,000 Locations for More Sophisticated and Efficient Communications throughout the County of Los Angeles http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26192
AT&T Study: Nearly One in Five North Carolina Businesses Does Not Have a Business Continuity Plan in Place (Oct. 13)
AT&T Conducts Company's Largest Network Disaster Recovery Exercise of 2008 in Charlotte http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26174
AT&T Wins Four ATLANTIC-ACM Wholesale Metro Carrier Excellence Awards (Oct. 6) http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26148
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AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)
is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services, the nation's fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and the nation's leading high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies are expanding their TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE(R) magazine's lists of the World's Most Admired Companies and America's Most Admired Companies. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.
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