IP Communications

The Boeing (News - Alert) Company has selected AT&T to be its primary telecommunications provider, with a contract that calls for them to provide advanced network and wireless services to help Boeing enhance its business processes and increase productivity.

 

As part of the five-year contract, estimated at more than $400 million, AT&T (News - Alert) will cover more than 130 domestic Boeing locations.

 

“This important agreement with AT&T reflects our strategy to converge network services, voice services and wireless services,” said Radha Radhakrishnan, vice president of computing and network operations for Boeing. “Moving to a primary service provider is expected to help Boeing achieve significant cost savings and increase productivity.”

 

Boeing is an aerospace company and largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft. Boeing designs and manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communications systems.

 

AT&T will consolidate existing, disparate telecommunications networks into one Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled voice and data network for Boeing. Once the contract has been fully-implemented, AT&T will deliver wide-area network services, voice services, audio conferencing, Managed Internet Service and wireless voice and data services.

 

The contract follows a series of other large wins for AT&T in the past year, including major deals with Royal Dutch Shell, Starbucks, IBM, General Motors (News - Alert) and the U.S. Department of Treasury.

 

“AT&T is delighted to become Boeing’s ‘go-to’ networking services provider and to assist Boeing in accelerating its business performance,” said Ron Spears, group president, AT&T global business services.

 

AT&T’s Virtual Private Network will provide Boeing with reliable enterprise connectivity that supports advanced applications and internal voice services, while AT&T’s Managed Internet Service will give Boeing secure connectivity for its remote workforce, suppliers and business partners. Also, AT&T’s wireless services will provide Boeing with wireless voice and data access dial plans that synchronize with Boeing’s conferencing and local services environment.

 

Large global corporations and organizations entrust AT&T to build IP-based networks that will serve as the telecommunications and IT backbone for the achievement of their strategic business goals. Through agreements with companies, such as Starbucks, AT&T has been able to demonstrate that it has the scale required to execute these complex arrangements on a worldwide basis.

 

As a service provider to NASA, Boeing operates the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The company also provides numerous military and commercial airline support services. Boeing, headquartered in Chicago, has customers in more than 90 countries around the world and is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales. Boeing employs more than 160,000 people across the U.S. and in 70 countries.

Eve Sullivan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Eve's articles, please visit her columnist page.