London, UK -- AT&T in Europe is the first Cisco Gold Partner worldwide to achieve Business Ready Teleworker Partner Specialisation.  This specialisation marks AT&T’s continued commitment to focus its expertise upon delivering end-to-end, customer-focused network solutions in response to its customers’ business needs.

Today's announcement reinforces AT&T’s growing global presence and underlines the strong relationship with Cisco built upon the existing work of the two companies in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where AT&T offers leading IP-based services to multinational customers.

Successful completion of the Cisco Business Ready Teleworker Solution Specialisation demonstrates AT&T’s enhanced capabilities in the areas of IPsec based  VPN security, remote management and IP communications to meet customers' business needs, today and into the future.

Dealing with multiple vendors and integrating products strains the resources of even large companies with dedicated IT departments.  By working with a single service provider that is capable of integrating several key Cisco technologies, customers will benefit by having all the solution components working seamlessly.

“AT&T’s strategy to continue to develop key relationships with technology leaders such as Cisco, creates a winning combination for our business customers through the delivery of advanced, market-leading managed services," said Bill Archer, president of AT&T’s operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Achieving Business Ready Teleworker Partner Specialisation in addition to becoming a Cisco Gold Certified Partner reinforces the shared vision of the future of IP services our companies bring to market, providing strong recognition of AT&T's commitment in offering the highest level of network knowledge and customer satisfaction."    

AT&T has a wide-ranging set of managed services that cover the security, VPN, hosting, business continuity, optical and voice networking needs of global businesses. 

Edzard Overbeek, VP for Commercial, Channels and Distribution, EMEA, at Cisco added: “Cisco is committed to helping its partners succeed.  By mutually combining our strengths and experiences, we are able to address the various opportunities within our customers and overall marketplace.  We are pleased to see a global player like AT&T delivering the skills and resources to build solutions for teleworkers within the enterprises they serve.”

The close co-operation with Cisco and other industry leading suppliers is part of AT&T's global strategy designed to drive continuous innovation, while meeting the increasingly complex networking requirements of global and regional corporations.

AT&T’s rapid global development continues.  Apart from the Business Ready Teleworker Partner Specialisation certification, AT&T has also received two awards at The Cisco Partner Summit 2005, being recognised as U.S. Managed Service Provider of the Year and U.S. Federal Service Provider Partner of the Year as well as recently being awarded Cisco Silver Systems Integrator for the Mainland China market and Cisco Silver Certified Partner status for its Hong Kong office.