AT&T announced Tuesday it scored a networking contract from Southern Business Communications. The telecom giant was hired to link Southern Business Communications to its parent company Global Imaging Systems, as well as with nine of the company's other sites.

The new contract calls for AT&T (News - Alert) to deploy an IP VPN system, which will enable all of Southern Business Communications' sites to have direct online access, as well as access to its Atlanta headquarters, which is linked to the GIS network.

“As our business grows and we build new offices to support our operations, it is crucial that our network grows with our business,” said Southern Business Communications’ regional vice president Tim Gorisek in a statement. “AT&T set up a simple, low-cost solution that provides us with significant gains in security, reliability and scalability.”

The new network, which uses MPLS technology, will add extra bandwidth to support services such as videoconferencing and VoIP.

Today’s news follows AT&T's announcement yesterday about it inking a new data services contract with Ritzman Pharmacies, a Wadsworth, Ohio-based community pharmacy group with nine additional locations in Akron.

Ritzman has hired AT&T to become the group's primary data-services provider for the next three years. Under the partnership, AT&T will deliver the telecom's MPLS private network transport (PNT) in combination with Cisco's hardware to all nine pharmacy locations.

AT&T Inc.

Southern Business Communications

http://www.sbcg.com

What’s the number one VoIP conference in terms of attendance? What’s the leading VoIP expo for exhibitors in terms of lead generation? And which VoIP industry event will feature special attractions for service providers, resellers, and the enterprise and SMB market as well as an overview on the Future of IP Telephony? Answer: INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo, WEST, which runs October 10-13, 2006. See you in San Diego!

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit her columnist page.