Workers On the Go Can Improve Reachability With New Fixed Mobile Convergence Offerings

DALLAS, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* is taking a step toward making connectivity easier for workers on the go by expanding its Fixed Mobile Convergence portfolio. Two new communications solutions turn the possibility of using a single number to reach a user virtually anywhere into a reality.

AT&T OfficeDirect(SM) and AT&T Dual-Mode Mobile Voice from AT&T can help businesses and organizations of all sizes increase productivity and reachability by enabling select features of the customer's PBX to be extended to qualified mobile devices.  

In a July 2011 Forrester Research Inc. report(1) principal analyst Brownlee Thomas writes, "the key benefits of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) are simple to understand: avoid duplicating costs for voice infrastructure by taking away desk phones for employees who aren't using them anyway, and avoid toll along with some roaming costs."

Make and Receive Calls Smarter with AT&T OfficeDirect(SM)

AT&T OfficeDirect connects wireless users to the office with single number reach through one number, one voicemail functionality. Users can be reached virtually anywhere by simply dialing their mobile number.

AT&T OfficeDirect:

• Provides several enhanced calling features, such as "Intelligent Call Routing". This capability is designed to enable customers to route international and long distance calls over its qualified AT&T wireline services based on the customer's established call routing parameters.
• The service allows simultaneous or sequential ringing of up to five numbers (including the required AT&T OfficeDirect-enabled mobile number), such as an office phone number, home office phone or other mobile device number.
• Allows a business or organization to impose call restriction and extend its PBX abbreviated dial functionality to the service-enabled mobile device, which may further assist in achieving cost savings and productivity enhancement.
• Is sold as a service feature on an AT&T wireless plan that works on most AT&T voice service-enabled mobile devices and does not require any additional hardware or software investment.  

Extend Select Corporate Calling Features to Qualified Smartphones

Businesses can also manage communications costs through AT&T Dual-Mode Mobile Voice (AT&T DMMV), which can enable wireless calls to be transitioned, automatically or manually, between a cellular network and the customer's campus Wi-Fi network.

AT&T DMMV allows customers to treat an enabled dual-mode mobile device as a station on its existing enterprise PBX telephone system. AT&T DMMV routes outgoing calls by first selecting the appropriate network (cellular or campus Wi-Fi) based on several factors including battery life, signal strength and customer's established call routing parameters. As these factors change, the solution has the potential to transition the call between cellular and customer's campus Wi-Fi network (automatically or manually based on the user's preference or network strength).

AT&T Dual-Mode Mobile Voice:

• Lets users can make and receive calls from their enabled smartphone using their wireline or wireless number
• Helps improve employee productivity and accessibility when certain features of the customer's PBX are extended to the enabled smartphone
• Provides the freedom to take office phone capabilities virtually anywhere a user goes with key features such as single number reach, single voicemail box and directory query.

"Companies are continually trying to find ways to do more with fewer resources in this current economy," said Andrea Messineo, Vice President - Mobility Product Management, AT&T Business Solutions. "With these latest additions to our Fixed Mobile Convergence portfolio, we are helping to make communicating and collaborating more efficient for our business customers to help them stay in touch with an increasingly mobile workforce."

Watch a brief video highlighting these two new solutions.

Visit AT&T at booth #101 at CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2011 this week to learn more about AT&T OfficeDirect and AT&T Dual-Mode Mobile Voice.

*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.

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.

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(1) "How Fixed-Mobile Convergence Helps MNCs Reduce Telecom Costs," Brownlee Thomas, Ph.D., Forrester Research, July 14, 2011.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.