BEDMINSTER, N.J. --AT&T today announced that it strengthened its position as the clear market leader in the highly competitive enterprise Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) market, with three independent firms--Forrester Research, In-Stat/MDR and International Data Corp.--recognizing its leadership position this year alone.

According to the recent annual ranking of IP VPN service providers by global market intelligence firm International Data Corp., AT&T leads the $2.2 billion U.S. IP VPN market, with more than double the market share of its closest competitor. This is the second consecutive year that AT&T has taken the top spot, making it the first provider to get back-to-back #1 rankings.

In addition, in a September 2004 report titled "Evaluating Managed IP VPN Services," Forrester Research listed AT&T as a leader in the IP VPN space for its ability to operate and manage scaleable nationwide or global IP networks. In the report, Forrester stated that "AT&T offers the complete package--plenty of IP VPN choices, a rock-solid IP backbone, tier one operations and management support, and a new set of service level agreements that are the best in the industry."

Earlier this year, high-tech market research firm In-Stat/MDR identified AT&T as the clear leader in the global IP VPN market. In-Stat/MDR analyst Henry Goldberg attributed the company's success to its "strong brand in data networking services, considerable experience in IP VPN services and security, and the global availability of services."

"We are proud to be recognized for our leadership in the IP VPN space," said Kathleen Flaherty, AT&T chief marketing officer. "As businesses and government agencies increasingly put their most critical applications on their IP VPNs, including voice over IP, we are committed to driving innovation and integrating the latest technologies into our suite of IP VPN services to deliver the performance, reach, and security necessary for these strategic global, enterprise networks."

IP VPNs quickly are becoming the strategic platform of choice to deliver on the promise of a networked enterprise--anytime, anywhere reliable, secure access to information by employees, suppliers, partners and customers. As a result, AT&T has seen triple-digit growth rates for its leading IP VPN services, signing more than 80 contracts a month.

Over the last several years, AT&T has continuously invested in the innovation and transformation of its infrastructure from traditional circuit-switched voice and high-speed packet data networks into a single, integrated global IP network core based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching technology. In fact, AT&T was the first U.S. provider to deliver an MPLS-based IP VPN service in 1999 and now boasts one of the world's largest MPLS-based networks, with about 1,000-plus MPLS nodes in 50 countries.

AT&T recently announced continued expansion of its global MPLS network, backed by unmatched performance guarantees for its comprehensive suite of IP services, including IP VPNs. In addition, AT&T has expanded to 40 countries its support of global broadband remote access options--WiFi, wired Ethernet and DSL--to its VPN services.

These remote access options support businesses' increasing mobility, security and bandwidth requirements, making it convenient for employees to access their intranet and other corporate applications from virtually anywhere with consistent secure log-on procedures, regardless of access type--from dial-up to WiFi.

AT&T offers the most comprehensive set of IP VPN options in the industry--based on MPLS, IPsec and SSL--giving customers flexibility and choice. More information on AT&T IP VPN services is available at: www.att.com/business.