AT&T To Invest $70M in CDN Infrastructure

AT&T said that it plans to invest nearly $70 million in network infrastructure this year to support the expansion of its global content delivery capabilities across the United States and Europe (European Union countries) and Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan within Asia.

It's no secret that AT&T has been planning an expansion into content delivery. Today AT&T (T) provided details on its CDN ambitions, announcing a suite of digital media solutions to help companies deliver video and rich multimedia Web content across their networks. The company emphasized the "three screen" approach targeting the computer, TV and the small screens found on mobile devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry.

AT&T also said it has struck strategic agreements with ExtendMedia, Qumu and Stratacache, three software companies that specialize in formatting and packaging business content including streaming video, live and on-demand webcasting, e-learning and virtual trade shows, as well as the delivery of advertising over emerging media networks.

AT&T is creating a new unit to accelerate the company's activities in the content space, and it named Cathy Martine, executive vice president-Content Distribution, to lead AT&T's enterprise digital media efforts.

"Today's announcement is the latest proof that AT&T is delivering on its promise to connect businesses to their world, and do it better than anyone else," said Ron Spears, group president, Global Business Services.

"Enterprise customers are using video and multimedia content to communicate with their employees, shareholders, partners and suppliers, but they are grappling with the complexity involved in staging, managing and distributing their content to their end-users. AT&T's network is at the heart of a simpler way to achieve this, using the scope and scale of our networking capabilities, services and professional expertise to deliver applications to both companies and the end-users they serve. We are uniquely positioned to help enterprises more simply and efficiently manage their digital media assets for improved performance."

AT&T's routing and access infrastructure within its global Internet Protocol (IP) network today reaches 14 million broadband users, 70 million wireless customers, and 97 percent of the world economy. As a result, AT&T says, it has advantages in delivering content more quickly and reliably.