Top Analyst Firm Positions AT&T as a Challenger for Unified Communications as a Service, North America

DALLAS, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T* today announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned AT&T as a Challenger in its December 9, 2009 "Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America" report(1). AT&T was evaluated based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute.

According to Gartner, "Unified Communications offers businesses the ability to significantly improve how individuals, groups and companies interact and perform. The majority of Unified Communication deployments to date have been premises-based solutions. However, with the advent of cloud computing and new business models, providers now have the ability to offer Unified Communications as a service (UCaaS)."

AT&T's Unified Communications portfolio includes a broad set of UC applications and technologies delivered as dedicated managed, hosted, and cloud-based services. AT&T's comprehensive services support multiple vendor UC products with expertise in integrating the products into strategic UC solutions that improve key business processes while addressing the growing requirements for global and mobile collaboration.

In addition to full life cycle UC roadmap planning, design, test and implementation services, AT&T helps customers plan effective UC voice and mobile transformation strategies and implement key business applications across a wide range of smart devices.

"We believe that earning a position in the report is the latest example of how AT&T is executing on its strategy to deliver a series of converged capabilities within a comprehensive, global portfolio of Unified Communications (UC) services," said Frank Zvi, Vice President of AT&T Unified Communications. "We are committed to delivering innovative UCaaS choices that can quickly address the traditional and mobile communications and collaboration requirements of our enterprise customers around the globe."

"Similarly, UCaaS allows small businesses to capitalize on the benefits of UC without the large investment associated with premises-based solutions," added Zvi.

AT&T Unified Communications portfolio also includes leading conferencing and collaboration services such as AT&T Connect® and AT&T Telepresence Solution, which help businesses improve relationships and accelerate decisions from the desktop to the boardroom. Their scalability and support of both internal and intercompany collaboration provide a strong foundation for Unified Communications.

For more information on AT&T's Unified Communication services, please visit http://www.business.att.com/enterprise/Portfolio/unified-communications-enterprise/.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

(1) Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America" by Daniel O'Connell, Bern Elliott , December 9, 2009.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendor's measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services, the nation's fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and the nation's leading high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies are expanding their TV entertainment offerings. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE® magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies. 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.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.