AT&T will test a new enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol
launch.
The Bedminster, N.J., carrier’s Telework service will help multinational
companies provide employees with advanced calling features and broadband
connections (either cable or DSL) at their homes or hotels.
The tests will occur in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United
Kingdom. AT&T is still negotiating with the companies that will pilot the
offering.
“The trials are scheduled to run for six months,” AT&T spokesman Gary
Morgenstern told internetnews.com. “After that we’ll analyze the
data and the feedback.”
The service is based on CallVantage, AT&T’s residential VoIP service, which
started a national rollout with service to parts of New Jersey and Texas
this spring.
Telework will share CallVantage features including call logs that store
information for months and let users forward voicemail to anyone on the
Web; scheduling of “do not disturb” periods, sending calls right to
voicemail; and a “locate me” service to forward calls to any phone or all
of their phones at once.
The goal is to have seamless communications for workers, regardless of what
device they are using or whether they are at home, on the road or in the
office.
AT&T said it has inked interoperability agreements with the five leading
equipment manufacturers — Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Nortel Networks and
Siemens.
Pricing for Telework will be set after the trials are completed, Morgenstern
said.
News of the international VoIP plans comes a day after AT&T signed another
deal that utilizes its global network. Metso Corp., a supplier of machinery
for the paper and mineral industries, awarded a three-year, $8 million contract
to At&T on Monday.
Under terms of the deal, AT&T will provide networking services for 130 Metso
offices in 23 companies. Previously, Metso used 15 vendors in different
regions for network services.