AT&T seizes hosting opportunity created by mass exodus

AT&T got aggressive this week in growing its already strong hosting business by promoting a hosting transition program for businesses left stranded or in fear of being stranded by hosting providers who have decided to exit the business.

Citing recent announcements by Sprint and Cable & Wireless to get out of the hosting business, AT&T reiterated to the market its commitment to providing hosting services and introduced several enticements into its transition program.

In its standard transition package, AT&T will waive one month of recurring charges and offer loaner and trade-up programs for hardware as well as financing options. The company also will throw in project management support, engineering support and equipment transport free of charge.

“There couldn’t be a better time for AT&T to reinforce our commitment to this business,” said Pat Traynor, vice president of AT&T sales. “Because of general market [conditions] and announcements and changes in the certainty of other providers, it is very important for [customers] to know about AT&T’s on-going commitment to growth in this business.”

AT&T said it already has signed 30 customers through the transition program and has established a “win room” to focus on capturing more. To help that process along, AT&T has raised the ante on incentives in the transition program.

For a public testimonial, AT&T will offer to waive the 13th month of recurring charges for contracts under $20,000 and again for the 21st month for contracts up to $50,000. The company will offer preferred rates on Cisco, HP, IBM and Sun equipment and a complimentary set of pre-packaged transition services, which include up to 40 hours of project management support and up to 24 hours of engineering support.

Options for customers over $50,000 include waiving installation charges, a 6-month no-risk guarantee and professional services.

AT&T has approximately 100 hosting service specialists and more than 150 engineers and designers who work together in an integrated operations and Internet data center environment. The company recently opened IDCs in Hong Kong, Nice, France, and Sydney, Australia. “The Internet data centers are fully integrated into our global network architecture…so when you step into an IDC, you are stepping into AT&T’s network,” Traynor said.