The U.S. General Services Administration has awarded AT&T a new contract to provide Web hosting and security services for the federal government’s preeminent heavily trafficked Web portal, http://www.firstgov.gov. AT&T’s Web hosting services are supported by 18 Internet data centers worldwide, with nearly 2 million square feet of Web hosting space.
Earlier this year, AT&T’s role in the project was expanded when GSA selected the company to provide the site’s search capabilities. AT&T worked as the systems integrator to provide an outsourced, hosted solution, deploying a search engine that delivers more relevant results, based on information that can change daily, and accesses information stored in a wider variety of formats. This work was in addition to the design, coding and deployment of the initial FirstGov.gov portal in September 2000.
A current study by the market research firm RHK Inc. found that AT&T is the fastest growing provider of IP traffic, and the company’s network was recently ranked number one in pure IP backbone performance in a separate evaluation by Boardwatch magazine and Keynote Systems. Web Hosting magazine named AT&T “Best Solutions Hosting Provider” for 2001.