AT&T will spend a billion dollars

AT&T is evolving from a network service company to a network solutions company. It is using some of its US$1 billion annual R&D investment budget to effect the transition from its traditional wide area network (WAN) to deep into the LAN space. This means delivering anytime, anywhere applications to customers via a global IP network and to provide end-to-end infrastructure from the network, to cloud computing and end-points.

One of the highlights of the Asia–Pacific agenda this year for network-based services and applications includes increasing data centre hosting capacity throughout the region as well as scaling the Synaptic Hosting platform in its internet data centre in Singapore.

AT&T has announced a new feature that will allow companies to connect their existing videoconferencing systems to the AT&T Telepresence Solution, a fully managed solution enabled by Cisco TelePresence. AT&T also announced plans to double the number of Cisco TelePresence rooms deployed at AT&T locations throughout the United States and globally, and said that new rooms in its London and Hong Kong offices are already up and running. AT&T expects to double its telepresence sites to 50.

By the end of 2Q 2009, companies will be able to connect their existing H.323 compatible legacy videoconferencing systems with the AT&T Telepresence Solution, offering an effective solution to leverage historically underutilised systems. With this new feature for intra-company conferencing, existing SD (standard definition) or IP-based videoconferencing systems will participate as an end-point when a Cisco TelePresence session begins. Companies that have made prior investments in videoconferencing technology will now be able to use their technology with the AT&T Telepresence Solution to extend the life of their legacy system, while taking advantage of the high-quality, 'in-room' experience that Cisco TelePresence offers.

Nearly 30 companies have access to AT&T’s exclusive AT&T Business Exchange and are able to connect with one another via hundreds of TelePresence sites worldwide.

AT&T has been using its own managed TelePresence solution for over a year to communicate internally as well as with business partners and customers that are also on the AT&T Business Exchange.

Since launching the AT&T Telepresence Solution within its own operations, AT&T has experienced a significant improvement in collaboration across the business units and increased employee productivity, as well as realising a savings of nearly 10% in travel costs.  AT&T also estimates that its use of Cisco TelePresence will reduce CO₂e emissions by approximately 31,000 tonnes over the next five years — an amount that is roughly equal to the emissions generated by 5732 passenger vehicles annually.