Residential | Small Business | Enterprise | Wireless Region / Language
For Release Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Knight Ridder Signs $7.2 Million Contract With AT&T
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Knight Ridder Corp., one of the nation's largest newspaper publishers, has signed a $7.2 million contract with AT&T for a networking solution supporting Knight Ridder's operations across the United States. The three-year contract renews and expands an existing relationship between the two companies.
"With technology enabling an expanding and accelerating flow of information, we're relying on AT&T to provide secure, high speed networking applications that help us deliver news around the clock," said Sharon Mandell, Knight Ridder Vice President - Technology.
AT&T provides a wide-area network (WAN) solution integrating voice, data, toll-free, calling card and Internet access services for Knight Ridder's corporate office, newspapers around the country and its online properties. The WAN also provides high-speed online access to Knight Ridder's corporate functions.
AT&T is integrating most of Knight Ridder's services through its industry-leading AT&T Business Network (ABN) offer. ABN makes it possible to consolidate communications needs into a single contract, with a single bill, discounts across all services and growth incentives
In addition, through the secure AT&T BusinessDirect® portal, Knight Ridder gains online access to tools that provide real-time reports on network performance and direct access to AT&T's ordering, billing and payment, status, inventory and trouble management systems.
About Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder (NYSE: KRI) is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 8.7 million daily and 12.6 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities (www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more than 100 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.
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.
