MORRISTOWN, N.J. -- AT&T today announced an agreement with Intrado Inc., North America's leading provider of 9-1-1 infrastructure, systems and services, to develop an emergency calling solution for its residential broadband Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. This new feature, which will provide AT&T's VoIP customers access to emergency services, will be available when AT&T launches its new residential VoIP service this spring.

Last month, AT&T announced that it will roll out its residential broadband VoIP offer in major cities across the United States in 2004, beginning in select metropolitan markets in the first quarter.

"The solution we're developing with Intrado is an evolutionary step in the development of a 9-1-1 service for VoIP and will give AT&T VoIP customers access to emergency services and additional peace of mind," said Cathy Martine, AT&T senior vice president.

AT&T, which developed and pioneered traditional 9-1-1 services, has also been at the forefront, working with Intrado, to develop the next generation of 9-1-1 solutions for VoIP. With the introduction of new technologies and products such as wireless and VoIP, 9-1-1 technology warrants redesign, upgrade and enhancement to complement these new services. AT&T is collaborating with Intrado and industry groups like the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) to further such goals. The agreement with Intrado is a step in that direction and will offer VoIP customers access to emergency services.

Intrado VoIP Emergency Calling Services will provide AT&T customers the security of knowing that when they dial 9-1-1 from the AT&T VoIP service, the call will be optimally routed for emergency response. These services give AT&T an effective way to process emergency VoIP calls nationwide for subscribers. The Intrado solution allows AT&T to route 9-1-1-dialed calls from the AT&T IP network to public safety answering points (PSAPs), which handle emergency calls and dispatch services such as police, fire or medical personnel.

The agreement with Intrado will enable AT&T to offer its customers an innovative, nationwide solution to get calls to emergency answering points. "As technology adoption rates for both residential and commercial VoIP users grow, subscribers of these services will expect that their emergency calls will be delivered as quickly and efficiently as in today's circuit switched environment," said George Heinrichs, Intrado president and chief executive officer. "Intrado is firmly committed to providing customers like AT&T high-quality emergency calling solutions regardless of the technology they are using."

AT&T Corp.