New York Financial Services Firms Invest in Infrastructure; Analyst Cites 'Customer-Centric' Move Toward Technology

$12 Million In Contracts Signed With AT&T

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.