(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Telecommunications provider AT&T (www.att.com) announced on Monday it will invest $1 billion this year to expand and upgrade its global network with focus on adding business applications such as managed hosting, content delivery and telepresence.
The investment builds on the company’s data center expansion plans last year where it pledged to expand its data center network with a focus on Boston, Massachusetts, Dallas, Texas, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Singapore.
AT&T has now put in more than $3 billion since 2006 in business-focused network, systems and applications.
The upgrade will drive services and network-based applications to businesses ranging from multinational corporations around the world to the small companies in the United States.
The investments include IBM network integration, global network expansion, application delivery and mobility services.
“With today’s announcement, AT&T is making good on its commitment to provide companies with the network-driven capabilities and applications they need to successfully compete in a difficult economic environment,” says Ron Spears, president and CEO of AT&T Business Solutions. “Regardless of size, the companies that seize the power of IP technology and services to transform their businesses, are the companies that will be best-positioned to lead the global recovery.”
AT&T will expand its submarine cable capacity to Alaska, Australia, India and Puerto Rico, as well as to routes from North America to Europe.
The company will also expand its VPN services to 18 new countries, as well as more than double the number of countries where it offers its virtual private LAN service.
AT&T has also set out a multiyear plan designed to deliver IPv6 networking services to governments and companies globally,
In addition to its network service expansions, AT&T will deploy a new network capability known as AT&T Wavelength Private Line, a managed service that the company says will support 10Gbps Ethernet LAN and WAN configurations.
To boost its service quality, AT&T will upgrade its backbone by deploying new 10GB edge equipment and adding more Cisco CRS1 routers over some of its routes.
The teleco will also upgrade its network applications, including its VPN, telepresence, unified communications and hosting offerings.
For the first time, the company will begin offering telepresence in China, as well as managed IP telephony and LAN services in China, India, the Philippines and Thailand.
These offerings will be supported by the expansion of data center hosting space in three of its US data centers, as well as data centers in Tokyo, Hong Kong and the UK.
In November, AT&T opened its first Asian super Internet data center in Singapore.
Finally, AT&T investment in mobility services will see the company deploy its location-based services, mobile enterprise applications and enterprise on demand platform.
