"Between now and 2002, 2 million businesses and 30 million consumers will get connected to the Internet," Forrester, Network Strategies, August, 1998
"Without sophisticated quality of service (QoS) capabilities, carriers will not be able to offer end-user customers such value-added services as high-priority transmission for business-critical applications and managed LAN/legacy support. This is where ISPs will make their profits." Telecommunications Magazine, June, 1998
From the article you posted:
E-commerce revenue, though tough to define exactly, will account for 20 percent to 25 percent of revenue at IBM's thriving Global Services division, which should top $33.5 billion in overall revenue this year, said William Milton, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. . . .
Big Blue is using that muscle in numerous ways. The recently created e-business Integration Services Group is hiring workers at a furious pace - industry veterans and new graduates alike. "It's the most aggressive hiring program I've ever seen IBM approach," said Towney Kennard, the company's vice president for e-business enablement services. . . .
Granted IBD mentioned IBM's desire to expand into ATM, but I believe it's ATT we should look at as it's their alliance with Big Blue that's the key:
att.com
Today, though, those same companies are outsourcing strategic or critical functions, such as network management, for which they lack the necessary expertise. AT&T Solutions, for example, manages the communications networks of more than 300 companies. By leaving such functions to the experts, companies can focus their attention and finances on their core business.
In 1996, U.S. companies spent more than $100 billion on outsourcing. Today, more than 90 percent of all organizations outsource at least one function, ranging from office cleaning to computer support. By 2001, companies will spend nearly $320 billion on outsourcing.
Employees, too, are realizing the benefits of outsourcing, although there's often initial resistance to the idea.
Consider Jim Newton, for example. In February, after 15 years with AT&T, he walked into his Herndon, Va., office as an IBM employee.
A former district manager with the Business Services Chief Information Officer team, Newton and his work were outsourced to IBM as part of AT&T's Application Development Maintenance outsourcing contract with IBM Global Services. AT&T also plans to outsource the management of its data-processing centers to IBM. . . .
Now with several months at IBM under his belt, Newton says, "The story keeps getting better. On the IBM side, we're bringing in revenue, while on the AT&T side we had cost the company money. There are opportunities at IBM, and the leadership here has gone out of its way to help us understand the company and how it operates.
"AT&T is not in the technology-development business; a company like IBM should do that work. If I stand back and look at outsourcing from a business, not a personal, standpoint, it makes sense."
And NN's alliance with ATT:
newbridge.com
"AT&T MBS unleashes the power of two leaders in their respective industries. The explosion of the managed network services, network integration and outsourcing industry is testimony to our vision of multiservice, multi-fabric and multi-administrator global services management," said Terence Matthews, Chairman and CEO, Newbridge Networks. "With its reach and breadth of scope of its managed network service offering, AT&T is the undisputed leader of this high-growth industry. I am pleased that AT&T has selected the Newbridge solution set for its aggressive global deployment plans for MBS."
For a look at AT&T's Solutions Group:
att.com |
