AT&T is First Major Telecom Company to Offer Global Clearinghouse Services
October 9, 1998 NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge
Corporation -- The AT&T Global
Clearinghouse introduced today at Fall
Internet World provides a complete, centrally
managed solution that allows Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) and
Telecommunications Authorities to easily
establish and operate phone-to-phone IP
Telephony services to more than 140
countries worldwide.
AT&T is the first major company to offer
these global clearinghouse functions.
Members come from more than a dozen
countries in the Asia/Pacific region, Europe
and South America.
By joining the AT&T Global Clearinghouse,
ISPs can avoid the time and expense of
negotiating and managing numerous
agreements with other ISPs. The AT &T
Global Clearinghouse acts as a single point of
contact, posting the rate each ISP charges
to terminate calls in its country and then
offering those rates to all other ISPs that
wish to send calls.
The AT&T Global Clearinghouse also handles
the related routing management,
settlements, billing and administration,
allowing member ISPs to save on staff and
administration costs. A detailed monthly
settlement statement, showing the number
of minutes originated and terminated, is
issued to members in a single currency.
"The AT&T Global Clearinghouse allows us to
extend the reach of our Internet Telephony
network to regions outside our core network,
without having to develop and maintain
various bilateral relationships with other
service providers," said Eckhart Gouras,
executive director, Poptel, an ISP
headquartered in Germany.
"Instead we require only a single relationship
with the AT&T Global Clearinghouse. AT&T
handles all the financial settlements and
relationship issues between the various
networks, freeing up our time to focus on our
business."
In addition to the routing management and
settlement of calls, the AT&T Global
Clearinghouse provides:
-- A Care Center, for members to receive
account and settlement
data, other members' rates and general
network information.
Members access their account information
via a secure Web site.
-- A Network Management Center, where IP
hubs, global termination
and IP access networks and AT&T's IP
backbone network are
monitored around the clock.
-- An Operations Center, which collects,
maintains and distributes
operations and rate information via the
member Web site. It
tracks and coordinates the use of all
software and hardware
necessary to make the AT&T Global
Clearinghouse work among
members.
-- Professional Services, to help interested
ISPs establish
themselves as IP Telephony providers as
quickly as possible,
providing installation and setup of gateways
and related
software, and training for ISP employees.
"We've extended the underlying capabilities
of the AT&T Global Clearinghouse and
fine-tuned them for Telecommunications
Authorities," said Kathleen B. Earley, vice
president, AT&T Internet Services. "This
enables them to treat their IP routes as an
extension of their current bilateral
relationships with AT&T."
"The AT&T Global Clearinghouse is an
important addition to our IP services
portfolio, providing AT&T and our customers
with another competitive advantage in the
rapidly changing Internet environment," said
JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell, president and CEO,
AT&T Asia/Pacific. "Backed by the
combination of AT&T's strength in network
management, technical know-how and
marketing expertise, the AT&T Global
Clearinghouse is unrivaled in the
marketplace." |
