AT&T Alternative WorkPlace Solutions for telecommuters

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- AT&T, an innovator in telecommuting and other
flexible work arrangements, said today it is sharing its expertise with
the growing number of businesses that want to set up telecommuting and
alternative workplace arrangements for employees.

AT&T is offering a new family of services called AT&T Alternative WorkPlace
Solutions(SM) that help businesses take advantage of AT&T's network
intelligence to route calls to and from employees' homes or other
alternative work sites.

AT&T also announced yesterday that it will co-sponsor national Telecommute
America week October 23 through 27 with the federal government.

"Companies want to give employees greater flexibility in their jobs while
providing improved productivity, better service and lower costs to their
customers," said Kathy Marsico, marketing vice president for AT&T. "At the
same time, many businesses are looking at ways to comply with the federal
Clean Air Act, which aims to reduce pollution from commuting," Marsico
said.

"AT&T Alternative WorkPlace Solutions, will help companies make the
transition into telecommuting programs so employees can work faster, be
mobile and have more flexibility in achieving business objectives,"
Marsico said.

Businesses can use AT&T Alternative WorkPlace Solutions to support
non-traditional work environments regardless of the location -- from
individual telecommuting employees to remote call center agents.

One offer, Alternative WorkPlace Solutions -- 800 Service, contains an
option that routes calls to a specific telecommuting employee or
distributes calls equally to alternate locations if the primary
telecommuting employee is busy.
 Using AT&T's Advanced 800 Services, the remote employee also can consult
with a coworker at another location and then transfer the caller.
Alternative WorkPlace Solutions -- 800 Service has an additional option
that distributes inbound calls to workers either in a prearranged
sequence, or by balancing the call load among a group of agents.

While the Alternative WorkPlace Solution -- 800 Service is geared toward
"knowledge workers," that is professional employees who work
independently, an Alternative WorkPlace Solutions -- Remote Agent offer is
geared toward helping businesses manage off-site "production" workers.
These are remote agents typically involved in order processing,
reservations, customer service or mass marketing and require some type of
performance monitoring.

Alternative WorkPlace Solutions -- Remote Agent combines call routing
capabilities based in the AT&T network with custom call routing commands
from a business's on-site processor. Businesses can use this to identify
any agent across multiple offices or call centers who is free to take a
call, giving consumers the look and feel of a single, virtual call
center.

The Remote Agent offer polls all of a business's automatic call
distributors (ACDs) to monitor agent activity and distributes calls evenly
across call centers or offices. It also contains an option that moves the
load-balancing capabilities of a company's ACD into the AT&T network. This
ACD-in-the-network functionality helps call centers minimize queue times
and reduce agents' idle time.

Another offer, Alternative WorkPlace Solutions -- SDN, extends AT&T's
Software Defined Network (SDN) services to both telecommuters working at
home and mobile workers -- those employees who may be out of the office,
visiting a client, or on the road. This offer features a new service
called SDN Virtual Office Connection that gives off-site employees easy
access to their companies' SDN network via a toll-free number. An employee
working from home or other predetermined location can place a business
call through SDN Virtual Office Connection by dialing a toll-free number
followed by the number of the person being called. The company's SDN
network reads the caller's telephone number to authorize the call,
completes it, and records information for the company's phone bill. The
employee's home phone line is unaffected. To place a personal call, the
employee simply dials as normal without the toll-free number.

AT&T Alternative WorkPlace Solutions allows businesses to add other SDN
services including voice mail, cellular, calling card and teleconferencing
services, as well as SDN EasyLink Solutions for messaging services such as
enhanced fax and electronic mail, and SDDN Switched Access Data for LAN
Interconnections.

Businesses also can take advantage of Alternative WorkPlace Solutions'
consulting services to help develop telecommuting programs, as well as
training and hotline support. Additionally, businesses have the option to
purchase the virtual office hardware they need including facsimile
machines, modems and PCs, and worker productivity and collaboration
software, such as Lotus Notes.

"AT&T has been a pioneer with its own company-wide employee telecommuting
programs and now through sponsorship of Telecommute America," Marsico
said.

"In developing AT&T Alternative WorkPlace Solutions, we've drawn from our
own telecommuting experiences and produced a comprehensive suite of offers
-- from the desktop to the network -- that will help our customers quickly
adopt non-traditional office programs with little disruption to their
businesses and with tangible customer benefits," Marsico said.

Most network features for the Alternative WorkPlace Solutions 800 and SDN
offers are generally available today. However, the entire Alternative
WorkPlace Solutions family of offers will be available this fall.

Separate pricing is being developed for each offer that will include
feature functionality, hardware, software, training and consulting
services. Transport service costs for all three offers will be priced
according to the corresponding tariff or individual company contract.
Leasing on equipment through AT&T Capital Corp. also will be available
this fall.

For more information on AT&T Alternative WorkPlace Solutions, AT&T
customers can call their account representatives or call 1-800-222-0400.
 
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