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AT&T’s projected capex spending plan for 2009 includes spending cuts of between 10 and 15 percent from its previous year’s capex total of $20.33 billion. This is expected to reduce capital spending in the US by $3 billion from previously announced spending plans. 

While the cuts will hurt hardware vendors and suppliers at a time when they need business, the new budget reveals quite a bit in terms of where AT&T sees future demand from business customers. Despite the economic downturn, AT&T is planning for growth in enterprise mobility and smartphones.The new plans include focused investments in device protection, control and security.

The newly revised capex spending of $17 billion to $18 billion for 2009, include almost 3,000 new job in growth areas and cuts in its traditional fixed business. AT&T's global investment this year will be spent in four segments:

• Mobile services and applications for business customers
• Managed network-based services and applications, including managed hosting, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), management and telepresence
• Further network infrastructure deployment in markets and area where MNCs are either based or doing business
• Continued integration of IBM’s global network operations.

   

For mobility services and applications AT&T has some big plans

• New functionality in device protection, control and security as well as fixed-mobile convergence support

• A program to make key enterprise business processes mobile-ready through a Mobile Enterprise Applications platform that will allow business customers to securely develop, deploy and support its applications, based on AT&T’s partnership with Antenna Software

• New mobile conferencing solutions, portal capabilities, and business mobility applications for all business sectors, especially finance, manufacturing, retail, healthcare and government
• Targeted investment in location-based services, such as field service automation and fleet management applications. GPS and enhanced Cell-ID services will be integrated with privacy, charging and deployment management;

• Introduction of a new open platform for third-parties to leverage AT&T’s network for network transactions, such as network location-based service queries.

 

For network-based services and applications, AT&T plans

• Upgrades and expansion of its Virtual Private Network portfolio, WAN, telepresence, unified communications, hosting, applications performance, and digital media solutions

• Launch of telepresence services in China through third-party local providers

• Roll out of managed IP telephony and LAN services in China, India, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Mexico
• Extend the AT&T Intelligent Content Distribution Services and SSL security footprint into Mexico, and improve service coverage in Brazil, India and China, with further capacity upgrades in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan
  

• Expansion of data center hosting capacity in the New York/New Jersey metro area, Atlanta, Annapolis, Hong Kong, Tokyo and the UK

• “Scaling” of its Synaptic Hosting platform, hosted in the company’s “super-IDCs” in Singapore, Amsterdam and three U.S. sites

• Expansion of application services in those super IDCs by providing support for on-net managed applications

• Support for more virtualized customer applications through the use of managed on-site hosting services

 

For its continuing global network buildout AT&T will

• Deploy new subsea fiber-topic cable capacity to Alaska, Australia, Asia Pac, India, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and on trans-Atlantic routes to Europe

• Extend VPN services and access within its current footprint of 149 countries to an additional 18 countries

• Extend access options to additional countries, including expanding VPN Ethernet access from 34 to 38 countries; VPN DSL access from 38 to 44 countries; and VPLS access from 15 to 31 countries

• Expand IPv6 deployment across a multi-year plan that maintains a customers’ Ipv4 investment 

AT&T will be deploy new network capabilities with

• AT&T Wavelength Private Line, a monitored and managed long-haul multi-protocol service that includes gigabit Ethernet and 10 gigabit Ethernet LAN and WAN configurations
• Enhanced AT&T Ultravailable Network Services, which provide network monitoring and management tool set as well as support, through AT&T BusinessDirect;
  
• Increased global backbone capacity with new and faster 10 Gigabit edge gear, greater backbone bandwidth, and deployment of more Cisco CRS1 routers on key routes
• Enhanced network- and premises-based firewall capabilities
• Expansion of the AT&T Internet Protect suite, (My Internet Protect, Private Intranet Protect, and DDoS Defense) to the Asia-Pacific market.
  

 

Finally, AT&T plans to continue its integration of IBM’s global network operations according to its 2007 expanded agreement with IBM. The partnership includes joint delivery of networking, computing technology and services for MNCs, as well as on-site customer support in 48 countries.

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