AT&T (News - Alert) Inc. today introduced a suite of content delivery and digital media solutions that it says will help companies package, deliver and distribute video and rich multimedia Web content across their networks to three screens: the computer, the television and mobile computing devices such as the iPhone (News - Alert) and the BlackBerry.

 

AT&T says its Digital Media Solutions  portfolio includes content distribution and management, broadcast video and digital signage services and solutions that are targeted to companies ranging from businesses with multiple small office locations to the most sophisticated multinational companies in industries.

 

AT&T officials say their company is responding to customers’ need to cope with exploding demand for rich and graphics-intensive multimedia content that has been fueled by the wide adoption of high speed Internet services, sophisticated computing technologies and the need to deliver to multiple play-out devices including digital signs, PCs and smart wireless devices.

 

“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 of AT&T 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 says it’s struck strategic agreements with ExtendMedia (News - Alert), Qumu and Stratacache, which are software companies that specialize in formatting and packaging content that is suitable for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications.

 

AT&T officials say the company plans to complete deployment of nearly $70 million in network infrastructure and development investment by year-end to support its digital media capabilities across the United States, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.

 

Over the next several months, AT&T officials say, the company will integrate the software expertise of ExtendMedia, Qumu, and Stratacache with its own capabilities to provide companies with one-stop shopping and simplified network-based solutions to encode, deliver, manage and support video and multimedia files.