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New York Financial Services Firms Invest in Infrastructure

Posted on: Thursday, 5 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

NEW YORK, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Three New York-based financial services firms recently signed contracts for networking services with AT&T that will help them process customer transactions more rapidly and economically.

The contracts with BNP Paribas, David Lerner and Money.net are for a total value of $12 million. They demonstrate how these companies are investing in technology to gain a competitive edge.

Financial industry analysts have indicated that banking institutions needed to do something to differentiate themselves in this competitive environment.

"It's all about customers," said Stephanie Atkinson, In-Stat/MDR Senior Analyst for Vertical Markets. " We're seeing a 'customer-centric' use of technology, and financial services companies are taking a hard look at their network infrastructure and ability to adopt emerging technologies."

Here are highlights of the contracts:

* A $10 million, five-year deal with BNP Paribas to engineer, install and

manage Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology

solution that will protect BNP's mission critical data and

applications. AT&T will deploy a private, reliable and secure MAN AT&T

Ultravailable(R) Network that will link to BNP Paribas' Corporate Data

Center for additional redundancy and security. AT&T Ultravailable(R)

will allow BNP to gain efficiencies and ensure they meet customer needs

by deploying a reliable, robust business continuity plan for is

interconnecting data centers in the New York/New Jersey metro area .

BNP Paribas is one of the world's largest banks with operations in 85

countries.

* A $1.8 million, three-year agreement to upgrade David Lerner's voice

network and provide voice service using Internet Protocol technologies.

David Lerner previously experienced significant down times before

switching to AT&T. The customer specifically added the AT&T Business

Network (ABN) service to help it maximize its infrastructure

efficiencies, including consolidating all communications needs into a

single contract, with a single bill and discounts across all services.

Services were previously provided by Paetec Communications and MCI.

* A $328,000 Hosting solution through AT&T's Internet Data Center in New

York City. Money.net is the premier provider of Web-based, analytical

tools and financial market information to institutions and individual

investors. The contract increases Money.net 's ability to sign on more

global financial institutions and includes a comprehensive business

continuity plan in preparation of any unforeseen disaster. AT&T's

networking solution streamlined the company's operations, allowing it

to more efficiently handle customer transactions at this growing firm.

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.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT )

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT

AT&T

CONTACT: Karyn Vaughn of AT&T, +1-908-658-6037, kvaughn@att.com

Web site: http://www.att.com/

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