“Both NTT and AT&T have a long and distinguished history in the communications industry,” said Jonathan Stretch, AT&T Global Operations vice president, Asia Pacific. “With this landmark agreement we have built the foundation upon which our companies can develop and accelerate the growth of the network outsourcing services business in Japan.”
This agreement increases the portfolio of services NTT Com offers its customers to include AT&T Global Network Services’ network outsourcing and secure managed Internet access services.
Today’s announcement follows a Memorandum of Understanding AT&T and NTT signed April 27, 1999 in which they committed to work together to develop definitive agreements and business ventures that provide value-added networking solutions for large and mid-sized multinational businesses and industries.
"As the strategic partner and one of the largest customers of AGNS-Japan, I think this is a very powerful combination which will benefit IBM and its customers,” said Takuma Otoshi, president, IBM-Japan. "We believe this agreement will help us to promote the effectiveness of our current e-business strategy."
Global networking solutions are delivered in the form of professional services for custom designing, deploying, and managing enterprise networks. The market for networking solutions is one of the fastest growing segments of the telecommunications industry.
Increasingly, large- and medium-sized multinational firms are choosing to place the responsibility for the management of their complex corporate networks with service providers that can assure end-to-end cost, quality and reliability, freeing themselves to focus on core business issues. The growth opportunity for these services is accelerating as customers want and need to connect their business processes to customers and suppliers via custom designed and managed enterprise and internet protocol networks. AT&T and NTT are the leaders in their markets in exactly these kinds of networking professional services.

“Today’s agreement combines the managed networking expertise of AGNS-Japan with the strength and quality of NTT’s telecommunications services,” said Yoichiro Yatsurugi, president, AGNS-Japan. “Together we will focus on developing new services to satisfy the networking solutions needs of Japanese customers, and on broadening our collaboration in network outsourcing markets in Japan.”
In May 1999, AT&T acquired the global network services business in Japan as part of its worldwide US$5 billion acquisition of the IBM Global Network business, now part of the AT&T Solutions Group.
AT&T Global Network Services offers a portfolio of services for enterprise connectivity and network outsourcing. It is deployed worldwide in over 850 cities in 80 countries and serves the managed networking needs of several hundred large global companies, and tens of thousands of mid-sized companies.


About NTT Communications
NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) is the largest long-distance and international telecommunications company in Japan, reaching over 200 countries worldwide. Headquartered in Tokyo, NTT Com’s Arcstar services operate in about fifty countries and have significant presence in Asia Pacific, North America and Europe. Arcstar global services provide managed data, multimedia and Internet services to some of the largest companies in the world. NTT Com’s investment in its Managed Services, IP Infrastructure and Internet Portal will meet the growing demand for electronic commerce based services from its business customers and home users. NTT Com with the OCN brand is already the fastest growing ISP in Japan.
For further information, visit our website at http://www.ntt.com/index-e.html.

About AT&T
AT&T (www.att.com) is the world’s premier provider of voice and data communications, with more than 80 million customers, including businesses, government and consumers. AT&T runs the world’s largest, most powerful long-distance network and the largest wireless network in North America. The company is a leading supplier of data and Internet services for businesses and the nation’s largest direct Internet service provider to consumers. AT&T also provides local telephone service to a growing number of businesses.

AT&T Solutions, based in Florham Park, N.J., provides seamless solutions that maximize the competitive advantage of networking-based electronic commerce applications. It uses state-of-the-art tools to operate and manage voice, data, video and Internet /intranet services, including local and wide area networks, PBXs, voice-processing systems and voice and data terminals.