AT&T and Cisco alliance hits EMEA

Deal won't adversely affect the channel, promises telco boss

Cisco has expanded its US relationship with AT&T to cover the entire EMEA region.

The firms signed a deal in the US earlier this year which saw them co-operating to offer managed services to large companies on a direct basis.

Bill Archer, president of AT&T in Europe, and Rob Loyd, president of Cisco in EMEA, said the deal will not adversely affect the channel.

"This is not a shift in channel policy or approach," Loyd said. "Instead, we are focusing on customers that have a multinational approach."

The deal formalises a casual co-operation between the two firms over a number of years and, according to Archer, will target only the largest companies.

"These are substantial organisations with significant infrastructure around the world," he said. "It is our policy to place AT&T direct resources in locations where these firms have a substantial presence."

In response to questions from Meta Group, Loyd said the networking industry had changed.

"Customers' expectations are different from when we were throwing bandwidth at them four or five years ago," he said.

"The question now is whether we can come up with a proposition to provide real customer value."