Seth Shields

03/24/99

AT&T Launches Local ATM Services

AT&T continues to bring competitive services to the local market with the debut of local asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) services, making it the first provider to give businesses a seamless end-to-end ATM service on a single platform. AT&T Local ATM Service addresses the high-speed data requirements of businesses regardless of their location and offers connectivity over any distance -- local (Intra-LATA), national (Inter-LATA) and global. The new service provides businesses with one vendor nationally for end-to-end connectivity that features one contract, one bill, and single-point-of-contact customer service. The new service will be available in 41 cities by the end of the third quarter of this year. AT&T's ATM services are backed by new ATM Service Level Agreements that cover provisioning, network availability, restoration time, latency and throughput.

AT&T also announced a Transparent LAN service that will be based on the Local ATM offering. The service will convert Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Token Ring, and FDDI traffic to ATM traffic using an AT&T supplied LAN-to-ATM concentrator at the customer’s premises. The concentrator converts LAN traffic into ATM cells, which are then transported on the existing AT&T network platform. The cells are reassembled at the receiving location, providing a seamless interconnection to the user. The service helps businesses easily scale their existing LAN networks and easily interconnect additional LANs without a major infrastructure change. Bandwidth can be obtained on an incremental basis, offering a scalable and cost-effective solution.

"AT&T Launches Local ATM Services", InformationWeek, March 24,1999.

"AT&T Will Expand ATM Services", Computer Reseller News, March 22, 1999.