Mar 10, 2004 : AT&T Introduces WebService Connect

📅 March 10, 2004 - AT&T (att.com) announced on Wednesday that it has introduced WebService Connect, a business services network that helps enterprises and government agencies connect, create, share and manage business processes and applications with their suppliers and customers. According to AT&T, the service creates an environment called a service-oriented architecture where applications can be developed by enterprises or vendors, incorporating them into a business process, and then shared on demand.

"Today's announcement delivers on our commitment to provide customers with high-value enterprise and application networking solutions to address the complex integration challenges facing businesses today," says Eric Shepcaro, vice president of application networking for AT&T. "We intend to continue expanding the breadth of our capabilities as we evolve into a leading networking integrator."
The company said the network is designed to reduce the cost, risk and complexity of integrating the networked enterprise across suppliers, partners and customers, allowing for true interoperability and collaboration.
"As more and more business gets done on the network, companies increasingly are looking for ways to integrate their extended enterprise to increase productivity, create new revenue streams and control costs," says Shepcaro. "By leveraging our investments, infrastructure and expertise, businesses and government agencies can lower their total cost of ownership to integrate applications, data and critical business processes across their extended enterprise."
The service is based on open standards, allowing information sharing regardless of the various systems and applications in use.
Thomason Financial is one of the first companies to sign on for the new service.