Burns & McDonnell Selects AT&T Network Services

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. has announced a three-year networking services contract with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company Inc., a multidisciplinary engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting services firm. The agreement, which renews and expands a long-standing relationship between the two companies, calls for AT&T to serve as the primary network and data services provider to Burns & McDonnell.

Burns & McDonnell is ranked in the top 10 percent of U.S. engineering design firms by Engineering News-Record magazine. The firm's work is increasingly taking place on a global scale, so there are bigger demands on its networking infrastructure. AT&T will upgrade services at Burns & McDonnell from frame relay to fully managed Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. AT&T's solution prioritizes business- critical data that travels over the network and provides simultaneous access and improved connectivity for Burns & McDonnell headquarters in Kansas City, as well as its 17 regional offices across the United States.

Consolidating and standardizing networking services at Burns & McDonnell onto a unified and scalable MPLS platform enables the company to achieve faster data speeds, improved efficiencies and increased collaboration. AT&T's highly reliable VPN services also make it possible for Burns & McDonnell's remote workforce to access corporate applications from wherever they are located.

"Our work to plan, design, permit, construct and manage facilities is increasingly proceeding internationally, which prompted us to adopt a philosophy that encourages anywhere, anytime computing," said Kris Paper, principal and director of Information Technology for Burns & McDonnell. "AT&T's services upgrade will play a major role in keeping everyone connected all over the world."

With AT&T Network-Based Internet Protocol (IP) VPN Remote Access service, remote workers or mobile users enjoy the same level of connectivity as individuals who work in branch offices. The service delivers Burns & McDonnell any-to-any communications with remote and local employees, customers and suppliers.

The agreement also includes deployment of an Optical Ethernet Metropolitan Area Network (OPT-E-MAN(R)) service to connect the Kansas City headquarters with the company's data center.

The OPT-E-MAN solution is a switched Ethernet service that connects local area networks (LANs) within the same metropolitan area. Through the OPT-E-MAN solution, Burns & McDonnell will be able to use switched Metro Ethernet technology to link facilities situated throughout the Kansas City area through a single managed network solution. This ensures virtually uninterrupted data transport from point to point, point to multipoint, or multipoint to multipoint.

In addition to the VPN solution, AT&T will also provide private line services, local and long distance voice services and AT&T Business Internet Services, which deliver reliable Internet dial access in more than 50 countries.

Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell provides engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting services. Nearly 2,500 engineers, architects, scientists, planners, estimators, economists, technicians and other professionals work in 17 offices located throughout the U.S. and abroad. Founded in 1898, Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned. For more information, please visit http://www.burnsmcd.com/.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.

(C) 2007 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Knowledge Ventures. For more information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.