AT&T VOIP Supports Cisco, Avaya

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Building on AT&T Labs expertise and its networking leadership, AT&T today announced that its managed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services now will support the Cisco IP PBX solution, Cisco CallManager, delivering new technology alternatives to customers while protecting their investments in existing systems and applications. AT&T Labs has certified interoperability between Cisco IP Telephony solutions enabled by AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) with the AT&T network and AT&T's suite of VoIP services. Trials of AT&T's new VoIP capability with AVVID will begin immediately, with service introduction across AT&T's VoIP portfolio expected during the third quarter. Today's announcement builds upon AT&T's long-standing strategic relationship with Cisco and the recent expansion of their market alliance for delivering global managed-networking services. "By relying on Cisco IP expertise and AT&T leadership in networking, business customers can immediately gain the benefits of productivity, mobility and business resiliency from new business communication applications," said Mark Bakies, Cisco Director of Marketing, Voice Technology Group. AT&T, the world's networking company, today also introduced a VoIP option for site-to-site IP virtual private network (VPN) customers and Web-based performance monitoring reports for measuring VoIP quality. The features announced today at the Spring 2003 Voice on the Net Conference here add to AT&T's already rich portfolio of VoIP services. They represent another milestone in AT&T's efforts to enhance the capabilities of its network and provide advanced tools to give customers an integrated end-to-end experience. In a separate release: AT&T today announced that its managed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services will support Avaya IP Telephony solutions, delivering new technology alternatives to customers while protecting their investments in existing systems and applications. The announcement builds on the expertise of AT&T Labs, AT&T's leadership as the world's networking company, and Avaya's position as a world leader in IP telephony and communications software. AT&T Labs has certified Avaya's IP Telephony servers, gateways and MultiVantage(TM) software for interoperability with the AT&T network to make the Avaya IP Telephony solution compatible with AT&T's suite of VoIP services. Trials of AT&T's new managed VoIP service will begin immediately, with service introduction across AT&T's VoIP portfolio expected in third quarter. "With AT&T offering Managed Services based on Avaya IP telephony, customers receive secure and reliable communications solutions and can realize significant business results - enhanced enterprise-wide productivity and reduced network total cost of ownership. At the same time, they leverage the expertise of Avaya and AT&T, two market leaders, and are able to focus on their own core competencies," said Denzil Samuels, vice president of Avaya's Service Provider Business. The interoperability and certification with Avaya -- announced today at the Spring 2003 Voice on the Net Conference -- represent another milestone in AT&T's efforts to enhance capabilities of its network and provide advanced tools to give customers an integrated end-to-end experience. AT&T Corp. Cisco Systems Inc. Avaya Inc.