IP Communications

AT&T (News - Alert) Inc. plans to invest $1 billion in 2008 in a bid to continue expansion of its network and portfolio of solutions for multinational companies with operations and applications in key markets worldwide.

 

The 2008 program is reportedly 33 percent more than last year’s enterprise investment and more than double AT&T's investment in 2006.

 

According to AT&T, this year program is being driven by demand for Internet Protocol (IP) networks and services as companies deal with the “explosive surge in data, voice and video traffic made possible by the proliferation of high speed networks and devices worldwide.”

 

In response to this growing demand, AT&T is planning to extend its global network reach and capacity, globalize its portfolio of business services and embed the latest utility computing and other technologies in the network.

 

In 2008, AT&T plans to invest in new sub-sea fiber optic cable capacity to Japan and Asia. AT&T states that this would include increased investments in multiple under sea cable systems into South East Asia and Australia.

 

Also, the company is all set to invest in several sub-sea cable system upgrades to grow capacity on multiples routes in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, and also sub-sea investments on existing cables servicing India and the Middle East. 

 

The subsea investments are expected to be used to extend AT&T’s optical network into Europe and Asia with optical mesh restoration.

 

Additionally, AT&T intends to invest in the new core MPLS routers in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Also, in the expansion of access to AT&T's global network with new or additional MPLS based IP network access nodes in Europe (Paris, Moscow), the Middle East (Kuwait), India (New Delhi, Kolkata), Japan, Asia (Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore), and Central America (Guatemala).

 

In addition, the telecommunications company is planning to invest in new network-to-network connections to extend network reach into high growth markets in Asia Pacific (India, Australia), Eastern Europe (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Mongolia) and South America.

 

AT&T is also planning to rollout a global virtual private local area network solution, initially in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, to enhance Ethernet network capabilities. Also, the company plans to make these services available in 14 cities -- Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Dublin/Cork, Milan, Madrid and Zurich in Europe; and Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo in Asia Pacific. 

 

The company also plans to make available DSL as an access alternative in 21 countries by the year end, and is adding DSL as an access alternative to China, Finland, Norway and Saudi Arabia. 

 

AT&T’s other investment plans are increasing data center hosting capacity with an additional 180,000 square feet of global capacity by mid 2009 throughout the 38 data centers AT&T has deployed globally, and integrating and developing unified communications capabilities.

 

“Companies worldwide are responding to the exploding need to deliver voice, data and video in real time to their end-users, no matter where they are, no matter what the device,” commented Ron Spears, group president of global business services at AT&T.

 

He also added in a press statement that it is vital that AT&T continue to invest in those geographies and services to meet this demand so customers can connect their operations, partners and suppliers.