Device Arena

AT&T announced that leading industry analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has positioned AT&T in the Leaders Quadrant of its Managed and Professional Network Service Providers, North America¹ report.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant report is a guide for midsize businesses and large companies to identify and evaluate vendors that deliver IT services in support of connectivity and communications infrastructure (for example, Internet Protocol [IP] telephony hardware and software). The report assesses IT services providers on their product or service, overall viability, sales execution and pricing, among other criteria. Gartner defines managed and professional network services as, “multiyear, annuity-based agreements for network IT services in support of connectivity services and/or communications infrastructure. These include network and telecom expense management, network maintenance, network consulting, network development and integration, and network management.”

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Ever wonder which ringtones alert your favorite celebrities to a call from mom or management?

AT&T announced today the launch of the ‘Ringtone A-List’ (www.att.com/ringtonealist), a hot new Web site that unveils the sounds found on the wireless phones of today’s top stars. From Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port and Audrina Patridge of MTV’s hit reality show “The Hills” to Panic at the Disco members to champion professional bull rider Justin McBride, the AT&T Ringtone A-List is the only place that fans will be able to learn which songs are blowin’ up the wireless phones of their favorite celebs.

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AT&T today announced a three-year contract with Best-One Tire & Service, an independent U.S. distributor of the top automotive tire brands. Under the terms of the contract, AT&T will deliver complete Internet Protocol (IP)-based solutions and other telecommunications services that give Best-One Tire & Service the flexibility and efficiency to compete in the marketplace. AT&T will also manage its voice services.

AT&T IP Flexible Reach uses Voice over IP (VoIP) technology to provide Best-One Tire & Service with the benefits of IP-based voice and data applications. All on one network with scalable bandwidth, the new IP Flexible Reach solution uses an existing analog network platform to distribute calls for optimal call routing and volume control.

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AT&T today announced a three-year contract with Best-One Tire & Service, an independent U.S. distributor of the top automotive tire brands. Under the terms of the contract, AT&T will deliver complete Internet Protocol (IP)-based solutions and other telecommunications services that give Best-One Tire & Service the flexibility and efficiency to compete in the marketplace. AT&T will also manage its voice services.

AT&T IP Flexible Reach uses Voice over IP (VoIP) technology to provide Best-One Tire & Service with the benefits of IP-based voice and data applications. All on one network with scalable bandwidth, the new IP Flexible Reach solution uses an existing analog network platform to distribute calls for optimal call routing and volume control.

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This graduation season, Verizon Wireless customers can choose from a variety of phones and accessories. Whether entering college or the job market, Verizon Wireless has cool new phones, PDAs, smartphones, and stylish and fun accessories for the graduating Class of 2008:

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Sprint and Samsung Electronics Corporation Ltd. announced today that a new broadband wireless network offering the speed and mobility of WiMAX has met Sprint’s rigorous commercial acceptance criteria including overall performance, handoff performance and handoff delay. This key technical milestone has been passed after extensive evaluation both in the XOHM(TM) lab environment and with the commercial service network being built in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. Sprint plans on launching commercial WiMAX service in those cities later this year.

Samsung has been working with Sprint in the United States to test and build Sprint’s XOHM mobile broadband Internet service compliant to the mobile WiMAX standard. Since finalizing a supply agreement in 2007, the two companies have steadily made progress on the extensive project with previous key milestones including first data session in the lab (June 2007), first data session on the live network (October 2007) and successful interoperability testing with multiple other device vendors (April 2008).

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Alcatel-Lucent today announced that Belgacom, Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise Business Partner in Belgium, has selected Alcatel‑Lucent’s Business Integrated Communications Solution (BiCS) portfolio as its preferred midmarket communications offer. With BiCS, Belgacom can now offer its enterprise customers simplified one-stop shopping with a single server bundled communications solution that includes state of the art unified communications tools and centralized management capabilities for a highly mobile, always-on workforce.

As a proof point of this announcement, Sennheiser Benelux, part of the Sennheiser Group, has selected Alcatel-Lucent’s BiCS platform to meet the demanding communications requirements of its very mobile workforce. The new communications system provides Sennheiser with a consistent user experience regardless of location through unified communications, mobility, and advanced IP telephony services.

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Sprint Nextel filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a new proposal that comprehensively addresses the concerns about the federal universal service high cost support program. The proposal offers a path to a sustainable high cost support fund that provides support necessary to achieve universal service where it is most needed and promotes competition rather than subsidies.

Using publicly provided carrier data and minor modifications to current FCC rules Sprint Nextel developed an administratively simple yet Comprehensive Universal Service Reform (For Everyone) High Cost Support Plan (The CURE Plan). CURE will treat all industry segments equitably; reduce high cost support to a sustainable level; lower carrier contributions to the fund and, at the same time, lower consumer bills. The plan sets stage to reconcile the universal service and competition goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

“CURE is a unique proposal that is fair to carriers, benefits consumers, and, most importantly, it is the only plan that can be implemented immediately,” stated Len Kennedy, Sprint Nextel general counsel and head of regulatory and external affairs. “It is important for the FCC to put the CURE Plan out for full public comment to allow a refresh of industry thinking about universal service and the need for competitive reform.”

Telecommunications carriers and consumers currently contribute more than $4.6 billion annually for high cost support. Adoption of CURE would reduce this sum over time by $3.1 billion annually and would reduce the contribution rate that funds high-cost support from 11.3% to 6%.

Sprint

Alcatel-Lucent and NTT today announced that they have signed a collaborative agreement focusing on optical packet switching technologies. The collaborative agreement was signed yesterday between Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs research organization and NTT’s Photonics Labs in a private signing ceremony.

The continuing demand for innovations in packet transport networks are driven by several factors including: the emergence of very-high bandwidth subscribers, notably with FTTx deployments on a large scale; new reduced power consumption and footprint specifications; and low latency applications such as storage area network (SAN) or grid computing. Through this agreement Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs and NTT Photonics will cooperate in investigations on optical packet switching technology, including transport multi-protocol label switching (T-MPLS), the initial version of MPLS Transport. Specific terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed.

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Alcatel-Lucent today announced that it has signed a contract with Globacom (Glo), Nigeria’s second largest national operator to extend the network capacity and performance of Globacom’s mobile and fixed networks. The project, which is part of the operator’s IP network transformation, will enable Globacom to extend the delivery of advanced mobile and triple play services with enhanced quality of service (QoS).

The project will enable Globacom to increase its mobile network capacity (including GSM/EDGE and W-CDMA/HSPA technologies) to support up to 35 million subscribers, and to raise its fixed network capacity. The network expansion covers radio access, Mobile NGN core network and microwave transmission, IP/MPLS and optical networking, fixed access networks, intelligent networks and valued-added services, next-generation networks, as well as OSS/Billing.

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