Residential | Small Business | Enterprise | Wireless Region / Language
For Release Thursday, July 29, 2004
AT&T Helps Allied Electronics Deliver To Customers
Integrated network provides foundation for customer loyalty
FORT WORTH, Texas -- When engineers thumb through the "wish book" of electronic components, they want immediate access to any of more than 135,000 offerings from Allied Electronics. AT&T is helping the Fort Worth-based electronic component distributor deliver on those wishes, whether through catalog or online sales.
Allied Electronics turned to AT&T for an integrated network solution to prevent data logjams and deliver critical information immediately, ensuring components are available, in stock and ready to ship.
Under a $2.5 million, three-year contract, AT&T has installed an Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN), connecting Allied Electronics' 61 sites in the United States and Canada, to help manage its supply chain, point-of-sale, inventory, shipping, package tracking, customer credit and online tools.
Allied Electronics is a leader in distributing electronic, electrical, mechanical, and health and safety components for businesses and consumers and is part of United Kingdom-based Electrocomponents PLC.
"Inventory mix and availability are critical in maintaining customer loyalty." said Rob Birse, Allied Electronics -- director of marketing. "We count on immediate information about inventory and orders to anticipate our customer's needs."
About ALLIED ELECTRONICS INC.
Allied Electronics' headquarters are located in Fort Worth, Texas with 60 sales branches across the United States and Canada. Allied is a subsidiary of Electrocomponents plc (LSE: ECM), the world leading catalog component distributor. Electrocomponents has operations in six continents and headquarters in Oxford, England.
Allied Electronics, Inc., an American leader in industrial distribution of electronics and electromechanical components from companies such as Agilent, Honeywell, National Semiconductor and Vishay. Allied Electronics was founded in 1928 as Allied Radio and is the North American Division of Electrocomponents plc, the leader in catalog component distribution worldwide.
Electrocomponents' catalogs are like wish books for engineers. The company's group of RS Components subsidiaries sells more than 300,000 electronic, electrical, mechanical, and health and safety components, products, and tools. Through its well known RS Components and Radiospares catalogs and CD-ROMs, Web site, and trade counters (which offer free technical help), Electrocomponents reaches more than 1.5 million engineers and other customers worldwide. The company also offers same-day order processing, account management, and customized delivery services.
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.
AT&T 'Safe Harbor'
The foregoing contains 'forward-looking statements' which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risk factors include the impact of increasing competition, continued capacity oversupply, regulatory uncertainty and the effects of technological substitution, among other risks. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T's 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of AT&T.
