AT&T Wins 2005 CIO Enterprise Value Award From CIO Magazine

Released on = November 3, 2004, 3:50 am

Press Release Author = AT&T

Industry = Telecommunications

Press Release Summary = AT&T Wins 2005 CIO Enterprise Value Award From CIO Magazine

Press Release Body = BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- AT&T announced today that it is a winner of CIO magazine's 2005 CIO Enterprise Value Awards in the High Tech, Telecom and Utilities category. The company is being recognized for leveraging information technology to significantly improve the customer experience through its client support, service and network management portal, AT&T BusinessDirectÒ.

"In today's challenging business environment, it is more important than ever for IT to show a clear and direct contribution to business results," says Abbie Lundberg, editor in chief, CIO magazine. "The winners of the 2005 CIO Enterprise Value Awards prove that IT can contribute in a number of different ways to an organization's success, including, but not limited to, having a demonstrable impact on the bottom line."

The CIO Enterprise Value Award is bestowed upon a select group of organizations that clearly demonstrate how they leverage IT to achieve business objectives and produce return on investment, underscoring the collaboration between information technology and business management.

"Our objective is simple -- to leverage our technology expertise to provide the highest quality support and service for our customer base," said Kathleen Flaherty, Chief Marketing Officer, AT&T. "AT&T BusinessDirect transcends the industry standard by giving customers unprecedented visibility and control over their network and services. This allows our customers to run their own operations more efficiently and realize higher returns on their network investments."

AT&T BusinessDirect combines service management and support reporting tools into a single, secure extranet site that provides users with increased visibility and cost control over their network performance and investments. The portal supports an average of 2.6 million transactions per month from over 600,000 users. Approximately 40% of AT&T's maintenance requests and 35% of business orders are received electronically.

"The philosophy that all IT investments need to directly correlate with business value is widely held at AT&T," said Hossein Eslambolchi, president of AT&T Global Networking Technology Services, Chief Information and Technology Officer at AT&T. "The key driver behind AT&T BusinessDirect is to continue to streamline internal systems and processes to increase efficiency and improve customer support. This completely integrated approach across the corporation allows us to deliver a world-class customer experience, as well as consistency and coordination in service delivery."

The portal's electronic bonding functionality is a core capability that reengineers the traditional customer/vendor paradigm. This functionality allows AT&T's internal systems to interact seamlessly and directly with the customers' internal systems using eXtensible Markup Language [XML] to accomplish high volumes of customer-service or network-management tasks without human intervention.

Users derive significant value from this seamless support and process interaction because it ensures business-flow continuity and helps manage network complexity. Travel technology provider, Worldspan, benefits from the significant timesavings that result from using the portal's electronic bonding capability.

"Thousands of businesses worldwide depend on us for reliable, secure travel data and technology services," said David Lauderdale, chief technical officer and senior vice president -- Worldwide Technical Operations for Worldspan. "By seamlessly linking systems with AT&T, we have been able to improve efficiency, which has enabled us to dedicate more staff time and resources to manage other business-critical activities. Working with AT&T, we are confident in

About CIO Magazine:

Launched in 1987, CIO magazine addresses issues vital to the success of chief information officers (CIOs) worldwide. The CIO portfolio includes a companion website www.CIO.com, CIO Executive Programs and the CIO Executive Council. CIO properties provide technology and business leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT's role in achieving business goals. The U.S. edition of the magazine and website are recipients of 140 awards to date, including two Grand Neals from the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards and two Magazine of the Year awards from the National Society of Business Publication Editors. CIO magazine is published in more than a dozen countries, including Australia, Canada, China, France and Germany. CIO Executive Programs-- a series of face-to-face conferences including CIO Perspectives® and the CIO 100 Awards & SymposiumTM--provide educational and networking opportunities for pre-qualified corporate and government leaders. The CIO Executive Council is a professional organization of CIOs created to achieve lasting change in critical industry, academic, media and governmental groups. CIO magazine, CIO.com, and CIO Executive Programs, and the CIO Executive Council are produced by International Data Group's award-winning business unit: CXO Media Inc.

About CXO Media Inc:
CXO Media Inc. produces award-winning media properties and executive programs for corporate officers who use technology to thrive and prosper in this new era of business, including CIO, CMO, CSO magazines and websites, Darwinmag.com and the CIO Executive Council. CXO Media is a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading technology media, research and event company. A privately-held company, IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers including Bio-IT World, CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Network World, and PC World. The company features the largest network of technology-specific websites with more than 400 around the world. IDG is also a leading producer of more than 170 computer-related events worldwide including LinuxWorld Conference & Expo®, Macworld Conference & Expo®, DEMO®, and IDC Directions. IDC provides global market research and advice through offices in 50 countries. Company information is available at www.idg.com.

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About AT&T
For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.

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AT&T 'Safe Harbor'
The foregoing contains "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risk factors include the impact of increasing competition, continued capacity oversupply, regulatory uncertainty and the effects of technological substitution, among other risks. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T's 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of AT&T.

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Web Site = http://www.att.com

Contact Details = Gina Giamanco
AT&T
908.658.6061
ggiamanco@att.com