Via Joao-Pierre S. Ruth; InformationWeek ~  Jul 19, 2019

 

New partnerships set up a three-way dance that might be telling about the way the cloud market could evolve and who will remain relevant.

 

AT&T’s recent deals to use technology and services from IBM and Microsoft show how multivendor agreements could develop for large organizations. Last week came word of the alliance that will bring AT&T Business solutions to IBM Cloud. One day after that news, AT&T and Microsoft announced a separate partnership in which Microsoft Azure will serve as the preferred cloud provider for AT&T’s non-network infrastructure applications. AT&T also said it will get Microsoft 365 in the hands of much of its workforce. The size of telecom company AT&T makes each deal significant and that these partnerships were split across vendors speaks to the dynamics at play as organizations enact transformation plans.

The companies declined requests to comment further on these deals but a pair of industry watchers from Gartner shared their perspectives on what this all could mean in the long run.

By Mitch Wagner; Light Reading ~ Jul 17, 2019

AT&T and Microsoft “are embarking on an extensive, multiyear alliance” encompassing the cloud, AI, 5G and the edge, the two companies said Wednesday. This follows a broad cloud deal that AT&T announced with IBM Tuesday.

Terms of the AT&T and Microsoft deal were not disclosed, but Reuters and CNBC both put the value at $2 billion.

As part of the Microsoft deal, AT&T names Microsoft as the “preferred cloud provider for non-network applications.” Additionally, Microsoft will support AT&T consolidation of data center infrastructure and operations, the two companies said in a joint statement Wednesday.

AT&T is becoming a “public cloud first” company and plans to migrate most non-network infrastructure applications to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform by 2024, the companies said. Over that time, AT&T will focus on “core network capabilities,” customer innovation and “empower[ing] its workforce while optimizing costs.”

By Mitch Wagner; Light Reading ~ Jul 16, 2019

 

AT&T and IBM launched a “multi-year strategic alliance” Tuesday, where IBM will provide cloud resources and Red Hat’s Kubernetes platform to support AT&T Business applications, while the giant US operator will help bring software-defined networking to IBM.

AT&T will use Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenShift for managing Kubernetes containerized workloads, to better serve enterprise customers, the companies said in a news release Tuesday. IBM acquired Red Hat in a $34 billion deal that closed last week.

“IBM will be the primary developer and cloud provider for AT&T Business’s operational applications,” the companies said in a statement. IBM will “help manage the AT&T Communications IT infrastructure, on and off-premises and across different clouds –private and public,”

For its part, AT&T Business will help transform IBM’s networking solutions with its 5G, edge computing, Internet of Things and multicloud capabilities.

The deal builds on a 20-year relationship between the two companies: AT&T Business is IBM’s strategic global networking provider.

By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~ Jul 15, 2019

AT&T really, really wants 5G to play a role in the future of manufacturing.

This isn’t a complete surprise; AT&T has long worked to sell LTE-based connectivity, tracking and processing services in the manufacturing space. But now, here at the outset of 5G, AT&T is working hard to make 5G a new talking point in the discussion of the “factory of the future.”

AT&T’s latest gambit in this arena is the company’s move to join MxD. Formerly known as DMDII, MxD is a nonprofit venture initially funded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to help foster innovation in the US manufacturing space. It brings together government, academia and industry, both large and small, to solve problems in the manufacturing industry.

The feature is set to launch in the coming months

By Sarah D. Young; Consumer Affairs ~  Jul 10, 2019

AT&T announced on Tuesday that it will soon be enabling a feature that blocks robocalls by default. The feature, which is slated to roll out in the coming months, will first be activated on new lines before being applied to existing accounts.

Back in June, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to allow phone carriers to automatically block robocalls. Under the order, carriers must give consumers who prefer not to have the feature activated the ability to opt out.

AT&T’s free Call Protect service is the first robocall-blocking feature that will be on by default, but users can choose to opt out if they would prefer to receive calls unfiltered. Those who choose to leave the feature on won’t receive fraudulent calls and will see calls from telemarketers and spammers flagged as “Suspected Spam” on the caller ID. The feature also allows users to curate a list of individual numbers to block.

From 2017 to 2018, robocalls increased by 46 percent, leading to widespread frustration among consumers. The FCC estimates robocalls cost consumers at least $3 billion per year.

By Jeff Baumgartner; Light Reading ~ Jul 09, 2019

WarnerMedia’s new direct-to-consumer subscription OTT service now has a name and a launch date (sorta).

The AT&T-owned studio announced Tuesday that the DTC offering, to be called HBO Max, will launch commercially in the spring of 2020 and feature about 10,000 hours of content spanning movies, TV shows and new original series. The commercial launch is delayed from the company’s original plan to debut the SVoD service in Q4 2019.

WarnerMedia did not announce pricing, but The Wall Street Journal reports that HBO Max will cost “slightly more” than HBO Now, which fetches $14.99 per month, and well above the $6.99 per month launch price of Disney+, an OTT service set to debut on November 12. It will also cost more than Netflix’s most popular “Standard” plan, which runs $12.99 per month.

By Nabila Ahmed, Eben Novy-Williams, & Scott Moritz; Bloomberg ~ Jul 02, 2019

The four networks could fetch close to $1 billion in auction
Sinclair, which bought Fox networks, may be among the suitors

Unmute

AT&T Inc. is weighing a sale of its regional sports networks as part of a plan to cut as much as $8 billion in debt by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The four regional networks, which includes rights to teams such as the hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins, basketball’s Houston Rockets and baseball’s Seattle Mariners, could fetch close to $1 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private.

By Dawn Geske; International Business Times ~ Jun 25, 2019

A lawsuit has been filed against AT&T (T), claiming that its $1.99 administrative fee isn’t included as part of the company’s advertised rates for its wireless service plans. The suit is seeking class-action status for all customers located in California and was filed by Ian Vianu and Irina Bukchin, Ars Technica reported.

The $1.99 fee in questions has allegedly been added to AT&T customer bills since 2013 when it was reportedly $0.61 per month. The plaintiffs in the case claim that the fee isn’t advertised by the company and is not included in the “Additional Charges” description that is provided on AT&T’s website. However, the Additional Charges part of AT&T’s website does contain the phrase “certain expenses AT&T incurs.”

According to the lawsuit, AT&T is “hiding” the fee and is “misleadingly” suggesting that the “Administrative Fee is akin to a tax or another standard government pass-through fee, when in fact is simply a way for AT&T to advertise and promise lower rates than it actually charges.”

By Chance Miller; 9to5Mac ~  Jun 20, 2019

PCMag is out today with its annual mobile networks report. The report tests the four biggest networks in the United States to find out which one is actually the fastest carrier. This year’s results show a tight race for the first three spots, and a distant fourth place.

Over the past 10 years, the results of PCMag’s annual test has flip-flopped between Verizon and AT&T. This year, AT&T has come out on top, earning an overall score of 97, compared to Verizon at 94, T-Mobile at 91, and Sprint at 82. All four carriers improved in speed and reliability compared to last year.

For the first time in five years, AT&T is the nation’s fastest mobile network. AT&T won or tied in 15 of our 30 cities, along with winning or tying in every rural region. The carrier has always had great coverage, but its 5G Evolution upgrades this year helped it vault upward in terms of download speeds, breaking through most especially in the western US.

Verizon, the previous longtime winner, continued to be strong in the Northeast, winning or tying 12 cities or regions. T-Mobile took seven awards, and Sprint got one win and a tie. Sprint had the best download speeds in nine cities, though; it just kept getting dinged on the other parts of our scoring algorithm.

Via “News Wire Feed”; Light Reading ~ Jun 18, 2019

 

PALO ALTO, Calif – The AT&T Foundry innovation center in Palo Alto, California is joining the California Institute of Technology to form the Alliance for Quantum Technologies (AQT). The Alliance aims to bring industry, government, and academia together to speed quantum technology development and emerging practical applications.

This collaboration will also bring a research and development program named INQNET (INtelligent Quantum NEtworks and Technologies). The program will focus on the need for capacity and security in communications through future quantum networking technologies.

Quantum networking will enable a new era of super-fast, secure networks. AT&T, through the AT&T Foundry, will help test relevant technologies for commercial applications.