AT&T Connects IHG Across the Oceans, Saving Time and Enabling Immediate Collaboration

ATLANTA, Aug. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* and IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) announced today the launch of two new Telepresence rooms located at IHG's corporate offices in Atlanta and London. IHG expects the deployment of these rooms to increase regional collaboration, increase employee productivity and in turn allow employees to make decisions faster and more efficiently.

AT&T Telepresence Solution® utilizes video conferencing technology to allow individuals to communicate face-to-face in real-time. In our rapidly changing world, businesses need the ability to change course quickly, collaborate globally, and streamline decision making. Using the AT&T world-class network, AT&T Telepresence Solution offers an "in-person" meeting experience with the ease of pushing a button. The business-to-business multipoint meet-me bridging capability allows businesses to transparently meet with customers, employees, suppliers and partners, in multiple locations around the world.

"Implementing regular use of Telepresence will improve our business's efficiency in the best way," said Bates Turpen, Senior Vice President Global Technology, IHG. "Our employees are able to work smarter and more efficiently by having the ability to connect with each other in a face-to-face setting, aiding the decision making process while still maintaining a sense of teamwork."

Both large and small businesses are recognizing the value of a flexible, virtual face-to-face collaboration solution. More than 120 organizations today are connecting with one another, customers, partners and internally, via more than 2,400 on-net endpoints worldwide, using the AT&T Business Exchange, AT&T's unique, network-based, inter- and intra-company collaboration feature.

"In today's dynamic and rapidly-changing world, businesses need the ability to collaborate globally and efficiently in order to stay competitive," said Michael DeChiara, Executive Director, AT&T. "AT&T Telepresence Solution offers an effective collaboration option for business customers, and its new enhancements provide even more flexibility, helping them increase business velocity and reduce environmental impacts."

According to a recent study, The Telepresence Revolution(1), commissioned by the Carbon Disclosure Project, U.S. and U.K. businesses that substitute some business travel with telepresence can cut CO2 emissions by nearly 5.5 million metric tons in total – the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing more than one million passenger vehicles from the road for one year – and achieve total economy-wide financial benefits of almost $19 billion, by 2020.

AT&T's own use of the technology has realized more than $4.1 million in travel dollars avoided, and more than 2,500 metric tons of CO2 emissions avoided in 2010.

AT&T Telepresence Solution is a flexible and scalable service with a full range of management options. It is currently available in 75 countries and territories, with plans to add other countries in the future.  

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

(1) For more information on "The Telepresence Revolution", commissioned by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and sponsored by AT&T, visit http://www.att.com/businesscontinuity-news or www.att.com/telepresencerevolution.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. A leader in mobile broadband, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T |DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

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About IHG

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global company operating seven well-known hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites® . IHG also manages Priority Club® Rewards, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty program with almost 60 million members worldwide.

IHG is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms and IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns, through various subsidiaries, a portfolio of over 4,400 hotels and more than 656,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories around the world.

IHG has more than 1,100 hotels in its development pipeline and expects to recruit around 160,000 people worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards program at www.priorityclub.com. For our latest news visit www.ihg.com/media, Twitter www.twitter.com/ihgplc or YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.