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AT&T Managed LAN Service Expands to Further Simplify Operating Environments Globally

Upgrades to AT&T Managed LAN Takes the Complexity Out of Managing Local Area Network and Helps Controls Costs

What’s the news? AT&T* is giving businesses even stronger network management capabilities with new SD-LAN and SD-Access features, providing an easier way to optimize data traffic. AT&T Managed LAN powered by Cisco enables more visibility, insights and analytics, and the ability to segment and apply a unified policy for both wired and wireless users.

AT&T Managed LAN is a local area network (LAN) solution that extends management from an organization’s Managed WAN Service to the LAN and wireless LAN (WLAN) equipment.

With an end-to-end network management platform, AT&T Managed LAN provides proactive, predictive monitoring and enables preventive maintenance of Managed LAN-supported devices. The platform empowers users with network performance data to help improve network operational efficiency.

The latest Managed LAN upgrades are driven by new wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi 6, software-defined LAN (SD-LAN) and software defined-access (SD-Access) controls and capabilities:

• Wi-Fi 6 is the next generation of wireless technology that provides higher speeds and capacity and lower latency, facilitating virtually seamless switchover from one access point to another for voice, video and data streaming.
• SD-LAN technology enables easy configuration management and overall network management of the LAN, providing useful analytics that businesses can use to gain insights into customer or employee behavior.
• SD-Access is a zero-trust framework for managing access control, enabling the creation of LAN access policies (VLANs, user groups, etc.) for user and device profiles across wired and wireless LAN elements consistently to deliver insights and proactive management. These policies help define who can connect, when, where, how and on what device, providing enhanced security and protection from rogue users.

Why is this important? As organizations continue to adapt to new ways of working and the demands of digitization, employees increasingly need network access from anywhere, anytime, no matter the type of device. With application use and the number of connected devices on the rise, maintaining security policies in-house is challenging and costly. Many organizations don’t have the technical expertise to manage remote locations, limiting their ability to address operational risk and service performance issues quickly and effectively.

Managed LAN helps organizations simplify their operating environment and increase networking efficiencies through highly secured network management.

For example, a growing hospital chain could find its IT team becoming inundated with service requests as its workforce and the number of devices connected to the network increased. From computers and smart beds to complex diagnostic devices and applications, the hospital's network becomes overwhelmed. Adopting the SD-LAN features of AT&T Managed LAN gives the customer the ability to connect all their devices and users consistently and reliably using Wi-Fi 6 with complete mobility and visibility. In addition, SD-Access will give them simple, consistent network wide access controls, providing detailed insights and quick problem resolution.

With AT&T’s highly skilled staff remotely monitoring and managing LAN equipment, organizations are spending less time focusing on IT-related tasks, freeing up internal resources to focus on more strategic business initiatives.

What other details should I know? AT&T is a global leader in reliable and secure communications, delivering network solutions, mobile communications and managed services based on a world-class network infrastructure, some of which is powered by Cisco technology. With Cisco, AT&T has the unique ability to provide customers with an always-on network as well as comprehensive service and support at locations worldwide.

Who can use this? AT&T Managed LAN is offered either with AT&T-owned or customer-owned devices and is currently available in nearly 200 countries. AT&T has trained personnel in evolving technologies, located around the globe, supporting customers 7x24.

What are people saying? “Together with Cisco, AT&T has taken the complexity out of implementation and management of LAN,” said Rupesh Chokshi, vice president of Cybersecurity & Edge Solutions, AT&T. We’re excited to provide our customers with AI-driven analytics, insights and problem identification with the SD-LAN feature set to help make their IT operations more efficient, networks more secure and user experiences more consistent across wired and wireless.”

"Today, the agility of an organization is dictated by the agility of its network. As our customers look to offer new and exciting digital experiences to their users and employees, they must invest in simple and powerful networking technologies," said Greg Dorai, Vice President, Products, Networking Experiences at Cisco. "In working with AT&T, customers can now choose to consume the industry-leading insights, automation and security of a Cisco network in a flexible and efficient way. The AT&T Managed LAN powered by Cisco provides organizations a powerful response to increasing IT complexity."

Contact your AT&T sales representative to find out more.