AT&T and Orange Business Services Expand Telepresence Community

DALLAS and PARIS, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T and Orange Business Services today announced a new inter-provider connectivity agreement for a global telepresence service that expands the features and capabilities of video collaboration, allowing enterprises to schedule telepresence meetings and seamlessly connect telepresence endpoints.

This new service is available to all AT&T Telepresence Solution® and Orange Telepresence Community customers using Cisco TelePresence® endpoints.

Customer highlights and benefits

• Facilitation of real-time, virtual meetings around the world between companies that are connected to the AT&T Business Exchange or Orange Telepresence Community;
• More efficient use of limited resources - people are meeting instead of traveling;
• Easy remote collaboration, promoting quicker decision-making and issue resolution;
• Decrease in travel costs; effectively shrinking and organization's carbon footprint.

"The value of instant global collaboration through telepresence is becoming increasingly more advanced and agnostic," said Brian Washburn, Research Director, Network Services, Current Analysis. "New agreements, like the one between AT&T and Orange, continue to expand and broaden a variety of pervasive communities, allowing customers to seamlessly connect and engage with business partners with the push of a button."

"This capability with Orange further extends AT&T's telepresence offer and brings the benefits of the AT&T Business Exchange to even more global customers who understand the value of connecting through face-to-face collaboration," said Alan Benway, Executive Director of AT&T Business Solutions. "By using our world-class MPLS network to connect organizations to their customers, suppliers and business partners, telepresence has proven to be a valuable communications tool -- in fact, more than one-third of the companies ranked in the Fortune 100 are connected to the AT&T Business Exchange. Telepresence is a valued solution that is hard to ignore when considering the organizational and environmental benefits the technology brings to the table."

Andrew McFadzen, head of International Network Solutions at Orange Business Services, said: "Orange is committed to implementing inter-exchange services to make it easier for our customers to communicate via telepresence regardless of network or exchange. As a result of the interconnection with AT&T, we offer a very valuable footprint to our customers. The benefits of telepresence increase with the number of companies that can participate in virtual meetings, and our objective is to make it as border-free as a phone call. We are pleased to be expanding our global video collaboration with AT&T. We will continue to work with various partners to increase the range of options for our customers, enabling them to take full advantage of the business benefits of telepresence."

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

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. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.

About Orange Business Services
Orange Business Services, the France Telecom-Orange branch dedicated to B2B services, is a leading global integrator of communications solutions for multinational corporations. With the world's largest, seamless network for voice and data, Orange Business Services reaches 220 countries and territories with local support in 166. Offering a comprehensive package of communication services covering cloud computing, enterprise mobility, M2M, security, unified communications, videoconferencing, and broadband, Orange Business Services delivers a best-in-class customer experience across a global landscape. Thousands of enterprise customers and 1.4 million mobile data users rely on an Orange Business Services international platform for communicating and conducting business. Orange Business Services is a four-time winner of Best Global Operator at the World Communication Awards. Learn more at www.orange-business.com.

France Telecom-Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with 170,000 employees worldwide and sales of 33.8 billion euros in the first nine months of 2011. Orange is the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.