Postal Savings Bank of China Deploys Alcatel-Lucent's Contact Center

The Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) has deployed a new contact center solution from Alcatel-Lucent. The new network and contact center solution, led by Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, enables PSBC to centralize data management and improve data stability further improving PSBC's reliability, especially in peak service hours, while its customized reports system will help the bank further expand its telemarketing services.


Alcatel-Lucent provided its OmniGenesys contact center solution, the combination of the OmniPCX Enterprise and Genesys customer interaction management software, linked together with a unique Routing Service Intelligence component. The solution supports thousands of interactive voice response (IVR) ports for self-service that reduces operational costs, with seamless escalation to agent-assisted service that improves customer satisfaction. The advanced outbound dialing function enables more sophisticated telemarketing for all sorts of campaigns. The workforce management software enhances efficiency, which is vital to service center operation.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Infonetics: Recovery expected in 2010 for Equipment Market

A mild contraction in the overall telecom and datacom equipment market in 2009 will be followed by a recovery between 2010 and 2011, according to a newly released "Telecom and Datacom Network Equipment" report from Infonetics Research. Some highlights of the report:

• Telecom and datacom equipment tracked by Infonetics Research grew 8% in 2008, with worldwide revenue totaling $150 billion, driven in large part by currency appreciation against the US dollar



• The two largest segments of the telecom/datacom market by revenue: service provider mobile/wireless infrastructure and enterprise router/switch/wireless LAN equipment



• Cisco leads the overall worldwide telecom/datacom network equipment market in 2008, followed by Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson; they dominate the enterprise segment



• The battle for service provider money rages on, with Ericsson maintaining its lead in the carrier network equipment segment in 2008, while Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens continue their neck and neck race for second



• The biggest increases in revenue market share in the service provider network equipment market in 2008 were made by Samsung, ZTE, and Huawei



• The Asia Pacific region, led by China and India, is forecast to increase its telecom/datacom revenue market share by 5 points from 2008 to 2013, taking from EMEA and North America.


"Though service provider capital expenditures are slightly decreasing in 2009 and 2010, spending is still on the rise for products that help carriers transform their networks. On the enterprise side, while companies of all sizes everywhere have been hit hard by the recession, they are in the middle of key network transformations of their own, which drive pockets of good growth. Whether to save on operating expenses or to increase revenue, service providers and enterprises are investing in new network technology. The three segments showing the highest growth potential are IPTV and video equipment, broadband customer premise equipment, and subscriber data, policy, and service management software," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.


"We expect a mild contraction in the overall telecom and datacom equipment market in 2009, and a recovery between 2010 and 2011, followed by strong growth through 2013, when worldwide revenue will reach $195 billion," Wilson added.
http://www.infonetics.com

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Motorola Names Chief Marketing Officer for Mobile Devices

Motorola has appointed William Ogle as chief marketing officer for its Mobile Devices business. Ogle will lead the marketing and branding efforts for Mobile Devices and will be responsible for all aspects of the marketing, advertising, interactive marketing and brand strategy, management and execution. He will report to Sanjay Jha, Motorola's co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices.


Most recently, Ogle served as chief marketing officer for Samsung Telecommunications America. Previously, Ogle served as chief marketing officer at Pizza Hut. Prior to joining Pizza Hut, Ogle held brand management positions at Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee Corporation.
http://www.motorola.com

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IBM Offers Unified Communications Appliance for SMBs

IBM introduced a new, self-managing, "office in a box" appliance for small and midsized businesses (SMBs) that combines all of the unified communications and collaboration (UC2) tools needed to run a business with the ability to connect to telephony, in a single solution.


The new Lotus Foundations Reach solution customizes and extends the IBM Sametime UC2 capabilities in a single appliance designed specifically for SMBs that have limited IT skills and smaller budgets. It combines key UC features such as instant messaging (IM), presence awareness to see who is online and available, email, calendars, contacts, office productivity tools, network security, remote access, file and print sharing, and backup and disaster recovery.


IBM said its Foundations Reach is built on an open platform that enables and encourages partners to innovate and build upon IBM technology.
http://www.ibm.com/lotus/foundations

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Hutchison Selects Ceragon for Ethernet Microwave Systems

The Hutchison 3 Group has awarded a multi-year global supply agreement to Ceragon Networks to provide its high capacity Ethernet microwave systems, including the leading edge FibeAir IP-10 platform. The deployment will support Hutchison's network migration plans from TDM to IP, enabling the carrier to add network capacity quickly and cost effectively. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Ceragon's FibeAir IP-10 offers a combination of advanced native TDM and native Ethernet networking in a single, highly integrated mobile backhaul platform.


The Hutchison 3 Group is a division of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa. Hutchison 3 Group, together with Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited and Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings, is the leading global player in the 3G arena, holding licenses in 12 markets with total population coverage of approximately 481 million. To date, commercial 3G services have been launched in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Sweden and the UK. Hutchison announced more than 20 million 3G customers in March 2009.
http://www.ceragon.com

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Verizon Adds Facebook, Twitter and Internet Video Widgets to FiOS TV

Verizon has enhanced its FiOS TV service with two new social TV services -- the Widget Bazaar applications store and Internet Video on TV.


Verizon has worked with Facebook Connect, Twitter, ESPN, Veoh, blip.tv, and Dailymotion to create a converged Internet-to-television experience that lets FiOS TV subscribers connect with others while watching TV, plus search and view a variety of online, personal PC-based videos on their television screens.


Verizon also plans an open development platform to permit developers to write interactive FiOS TV applications that will be available through the Widget Bazaar.


The new services combine television's larger-than-life entertainment experiences with the


The new Widget Bazaar applications marketplace, located within FiOS TV's Interactive Media Guide, is launching with free Facebook, Twitter and ESPN Fantasy Football Widgets.


Through the Twitter Widget, FiOS TV subscribers can follow Tweets related specifically to the program, movie or sporting event they are watching, bringing a new level of community and interactivity to watching TV. They also can select from a list of top topics to view Tweets associated with today's hottest topics and trends, search for specific Tweets, and create and save a favorite-topics list.


FiOS TV subscribers with Facebook accounts can log in to Facebook through the FiOS TV Widget to update their Facebook status with messages about what they're watching, view their own photos, and view their friends' photos and status updates.


The ESPN Fantasy Football Widget provides instant on-screen access to personalized ESPN Fantasy Football points and football statistics, including rosters, box scores, scoring leaders and player information. All the information is available, at no additional charge, for FiOS TV customers who are registered ESPN Fantasy Football players.


In the coming months, Verizon plans to add to the FiOS TV Widget Bazaar dozens of additional free and transactional applications developed by the company and others.



Later this month, customers who subscribe to the Home Media DVR service will have access a new Internet Video feature that will allow them to search and view on FiOS TV user generated online videos from video-sharing sites blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh. In addition, a new My Videos feature will let these subscribers view via FiOS TV personal videos stored on their PCs. Both new features will be available free of charge to FiOS Home Media DVR customers and require no additional equipment.


The new Internet Video feature will allow customers to search content on the blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh sites individually, or on all sites at once, using either key words or by selecting "most watched," "top rated" and "recent searches" categories; view thumbnail screen grabs of videos that appear in search results, and bookmark favorite videos - among other features.
http://www.verizon.com

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NetLogic and TSMC Collaborate on 40nm 10/40/100 Gbps Silicon

NetLogic Microsystems has successfully migrated multiple silicon products to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC's) advanced 40nm technology.


By using TSMC's 40nm-G semiconductor process technology for NetLogic Microsystems' next-generation advanced knowledge-based processors and 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet physical layer (PHY) solutions, the companies seek to enable the next generation of networking equipment.


NetLogic Microsystems is one of first companies to tape-out and sample multiple silicon products in TSMC's advanced 40nm technology node.


NetLogic Microsystems is currently sampling its NLP2040 and NLP3040 PHY devices, the industry's first single-die quad-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) PHY devices, both of which are manufactured in the advanced 40nm process to deliver the highest performance and lowest power consumption for next-generation switches, routers and blade servers addressing the data center, enterprise networking, storage and service provider markets. In addition, NetLogic Microsystems is sampling the leading-edge NLP10000, the industry's first 100 Gigabit Ethernet PHY solution, which is also manufactured in the advanced 40nm process and offers customers unprecedented scalability for data-center, metro and long haul applications that require a 10X increase in performance while maximizing energy efficiency.


NetLogic Microsystems will also be taping out its next-generation knowledge-based processor, the NL11000 device, in TSMC's 40nm process. The NL11000 knowledge-based processor will offer significantly higher performance, lower power and cost advantages as a result of the close collaboration with TSMC. NetLogic Microsystems has developed a suite of custom circuits optimized around TSMC's 40nm node, including high-speed serial interface technology, analog and clocking circuitry, core processing elements and other standard cells, as well as refining the design and tape-out flow for this node.
http://www.netlogicmicro.com
http://www.tsmc.com

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Telenor Sweden Selects Amdocs OSS

Telenor Sweden has selected Amdocs' Operational Support System (OSS) suite of products to manage and automate its network inventory across its wireline operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Amdocs OSS already supports Telenor Sweden's mobile operations and it has expanded its relationship with Amdocs to support its fixed-line operations. Amdocs OSS will replace Telenor Sweden's current fixed-line solution with a consolidated, convergent OSS that places all network data in one repository, providing a single point of visibility across the network, and enabling Telenor Sweden to efficiently track and account for all its network assets. htt://www.amdocs.com/oss

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Cisco Promotes Health TelePresence

Cisco introduced its "HealthPresence" patient care delivery concept that combines Cisco TelePresence and medical devices to enable caregivers and patients who may be miles apart to interact in a clinical setting. The company said that pilot programs it has conducted in Aberdeen, Scotland and San Jose, California has found that more than 90 percent of the patients were satisfied with the remote care experience and would recommend it to others.


Cisco and UnitedHealth Group also announced plans to build the first, nationwide telehealth network delivering healthcare services to rural and underserved areas. UnitedHealth Group's national care provider network, including 590,000 physicians and care professionals and more than 4,900 hospitals, combined with Cisco's video conferencing and other collaborative network technologies, will help connect patients more easily with primary care physicians, specialists and hospitals. Connected Care will make clinics available in the workplace, as well as in rural and retail locations. In-home visits using similar technology will also be introduced to bring care to the patient. UnitedHealth Group has committed tens of millions of dollars toward the new initiative.



By using a live high-quality video collaboration and secure telemetry, Cisco said its HealthPresence solution can help a remote physician evaluate patients based on physiological data derived from a variety of medical devices such as a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter and other diagnostic equipment. Each Cisco HealthPresence unit is staffed by an attendant trained to operate the medical devices under the instructions of the remote health care professional, who may be hundreds of miles away.


Cisco HealthPresence combines Cisco TelePresence, a live, real-time solution that delivers face-to-face interactions over the network, with call center-like technology and a highly secure telemetry network to deliver medical services at a distance, similar to what one experiences during an in-person visit to a doctor's office.


Pilot users of the system include the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and the National Health Service, which are continuing to test Cisco HealthPresence at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland to provide a remote clinic experience for patients with non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries.


In California, the UnitedHealth Group (UHG) and Cisco, in partnership with HealthCare Partners began a pilot of Cisco HealthPresence with Cisco employees at Cisco's San Jose headquarters in October 2008 to determine its usefulness as an alternative to in-person doctor's visits. UHG coordinated the administrative processes for the visits to include scheduling, physicians' payments, the coordination of benefits, and the network availability of clinical services.
http://www.cisco.com

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Nielsen: Total Video Streams up 34% YoY in June

According to the latest Nielsen VideoCensus for June 2009. year-over-year, unique viewers, total streams, streams per viewer and time per viewer were up, led by a 37 percent growth in time per viewer.

Overall Online Video Usage (U.S.)	Jun-09	Year-Over-Year	Month-Over-Month
Unique Viewers (000)	134,310	12.7%	0.4%
Total Streams (000)	10,081,824	33.9%	0.4%
Streams per Viewer	75.1	19.0%	0.0%
Time per Viewer (min)	188.8	36.9%	0.1%

The Top Online Video Sites for June 2009 include:


1. YouTube

2. Hulu

3. Yahoo!

4. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing

5. Fox Interactive Media

6. Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network

7. Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network

8. MTV Networks Music

9. CNN Digital Network

10. ABC.com
http://www.nielsen.com

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Times: BT Repatriates Call Centre Jobs from India

BT plans to move at least 2,000 call centre jobs back to the UK from India, according to a report in The Times. The issue was raised at the company's annual meeting.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article6715544.ecehttp://www.btplc.com

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IP Infusion Adds Design Services to Source Code Portfolio

IP Infusion, which is known for its ZebOS Network Platform software and its domain expertise in network protocols, network appliances and IP-aware applications, is now offering turnkey Network Solutions Services to help telecommunications suppliers achieve the fastest time-to-market. The services include network consulting, network equipment customization and testing.


In addition to licensing, maintenance and support, IP Infusion provides consultation on network software architectures, design, technologies, protocols and product development. IP Infusion's Network Solutions Services are available across the entire product development lifecycle. The company said its Q/A testing lab provides an extensive range of testing scenarios, which can include more than 12,000 test scripts and interoperability use cases, many of which are not generally made available to customers in this industry.


IP Infusion's expansion into Network Solutions is being led by Frank Nguyen, vice president of engineering operations. As a wholly owned and independently-operated subsidiary of ACCESS Systems, IP Infusion is also positioned to leverage its parent company's design expertise in Web browsing, mobile phones, wireless handhelds and other networked devices.


"Network Solutions Services have always been an integral part of the solution IP Infusion has offered to help customers differentiate themselves and compete globally while meeting cost goals and rapid time-to-market objectives," said Koichi Narasaki, president and CEO, IP Infusion. "With our expanded Network Solutions Services, telecom customers such as SoftBank BB, focusing on IPv6 deployment and promotion, can take advantage of a complete, one-stop solution. Leveraging the global reach of ACCESS, our wide-ranging Network Solutions Services make IP Infusion the logical choice as a preferred systems integrator."http://www.ipinfusion.comIn June 2009, IP Infusion began shipping its ZebOS Network Platform version 7.7 software which supports PBB-TE functionality. Specific features in ZebOS 7.7 include:

• Support for Provider Backbone Bridge-Traffic Engineering
  
• Support for OpenSAF, the industry's leading high-availability (HA) middleware


• Hardened implementation of BGP Route Server for deployment in Carrier Networks utilizing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware


• Enhanced resiliency for IP routing with the support for Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)


• Ability of MPLS solution to support pseudowires across multiple Packet Switched Networks (PSNs)


• Complete non-stop forwarding (NSF) functionality for IP and MPLS.

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DragonWave Posts 41% Sequential Growth

DragonWave provided a business update and issued financial results (Canadian dollars), reporting record revenues of $16.0 million for the most recent fiscal quarter, representing growth of 41% over the preceding quarter and 49% over the same period last year. The company expects revenue will approximately sequentially double in the next quarter of this quarter.


While there was growth in demand from a variety of customers globally, the most significant increase came from the company's existing major North American based customer, which accounted for 52% of revenue in the quarter.


Revenue from customers within North America increased from $8.0 million in the first quarter of the previous year to $12.9 million and represented 80% of total revenue for the quarter. Revenue from outside North America increased as well, growing from $2.7 million to $3.1 million and represented 20% of total revenue for the quarter.
http://www.dragonwaveinc.com/irevents.asp

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Nuance Acquires Jott for Voice-to-Text Mobile Apps

Nuance Communications has acquired Jott, an online service company that delivers mobile voice-to-text applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Jott allows individuals and businesses to easily capture thoughts, send emails and text messages, set reminders, organize lists, and post to web services and business applications -- all with their voice, using any phone. Jott also converts voicemail into email and text messages, making voicemail a more productive tool. As used in Jott for Salesforce, Jott provides open APIs that allow for voice integration with third party CRM providers and other critical enterprise applications that require mobile access.



Jott will become part of Jott's Mobile Division voice services portfolio. To further extend the power of Jott across the mobile mass market, Nuance plans to package and offer Jott Assistant to mobile operators as part of its voice services portfolio, including Nuance Voicemail-to-Text. Nuance also said that it will continue to mainstream and expand Jott's CRM partner program through its existing CRM partnerships, enabling enterprise application providers to better meet the needs of the evolving professional mobile market.
http://www.jott.com
http://www.nuance.com

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Nortel and Microsoft Expand Innovative Communications Alliance

Nortel and Microsoft expanded their Innovative Communications Alliance (ICA) with five new commercial offeringsin unified communications. New solution bundles include:

• SIP Contact Center 7.0 + Microsoft Office Communications Server: The Contact Center 7.0 release brings unified communications into the contact center through its integration of OCS2007 presence capability, providing the capability to immediately contact the appropriate subject matter expert leading to higher first call resolution rates.



• Web Services: Targeted at companies with 100-500 users, this solution includes UC capabilities that enable seamless user experience with presence and click-to-call into other business applications and processes.



• Enterprise Lighthouse: This offering provides a cost-effective option for the large enterprise to take advantage of the enhanced productivity that unified communications provides. The offer includes deployment services to enable UC integration, including Office Communications Server Voice and Conferencing and Microsoft Exchange Voicemail for deployments of greater than 2,000 users.



• Enterprise Mini Lighthouse: This offering provides a cost-effective option for the small enterprise to take advantage of the enhanced productivity that unified communications provides. The offer includes deployment services to enable UC integration, Office Communications Server Voice and Conferencing and Microsoft Exchange Voicemail for deployments starting at 250 users.



• UC Conferencing: For very large-scale conferencing capabilities, this package provides a cost-effective option for enterprises to take advantage of the enhanced productivity that unified communications provides through Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2. The offer includes consulting and the needed deployment services to enable the Office Communications Server conferencing capability for a minimum of 500 users.

The companies said they have attracted 1,300 ICA customer wins over their three year alliance.
http://www.nortel.com
http://www.microsoft.com

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TerreStar-1's 18 meter 2GHz Reflector Successfully Deployed

TerreStar Corporation reported that its recently launched TerreStar-1 satellite was successfully placed into its assigned orbital slot in the geosynchronous arc and has successfully deployed its 18 meter 2GHz S Band reflector, the largest commercial satellite antenna ever deployed. TerreStar-1 is now poised to deliver the voice, data and video services over TerreStar's all IP next-generation mobile broadband network that combines the power of TerreStar-1, an all-IP core network, and the latest in smartphone technology.
http://www.terrestarcorp.com

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The Bahamas Telecommunications Company to be Privatized

The government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is preparing to sell a 51% stake in The Bahamas Telecommunications Company. The sale will include operational control of the company.


BTC currently provides services to over 334,000 wireless (through its GSM and CDMA networks), 132,000 fixed line and 18,500 broadband customers throughout The Bahamas. In addition, BTC has some 190 roaming agreements in place serving the more than 4 million tourists who visit the Bahamas each year.
http://www.btcprivatization.com

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Ericsson completes Live Network Upgrade for Vodafone Essar

In what is described as the world's largest upgrade of a live mobile network, Ericsson has helped Vodafone Essar to replace more than 10,500 GSM radio sites. The pace of replacement reached a peak rate of one site every minute.


Vodafone Essar serves 13 million subscribers in India's four key zones, including three large cities (Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata). Uninterrupted network services were maintened during the upgrade.


The network modernization project began in February 2008 and ended first quarter 2009, two months ahead of schedule. During this time, Ericsson delivered more than 16,000 base station cabinets and more than 250 base station controllers, completing the project in only 13 months. As part of the agreement, Ericsson also provided an expansion of the layered architecture circuit core including mobile packet back bone (MPBN) and microwave transmission equipment.
http://www.ericsson.com

• In 2007, Vodafone acquired the controlling interest in Hutchinson-Essar from Li Ka Shing Holdings for US$11.1 billion.

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Teraco Raises Funding for Data Centers in South Africa

Teraco Data Environments (Teraco), which operates vendor neutral colocation facilities in South Africa, has raised R50-million in a successful Series-B round of financing to expand its facilities. The financing, which consists of equity and loans, follows on the conclusion of a Series-A financing round of R45-million in 2008.


Teraco plans to expand its data centre in Isando on the East side of Johannesburg. Construction is under way and will be complete by the end of the year. A number of Teraco customers have entered into agreements to move their telecommunications and IT equipment into the facility from January 2010.


Series-A investors participated in this second round with one new investor, Guy Willner, co-founder and CEO of IXEurope (now Equinix Europe) who recently joined Teraco's board.
http://www.teraco.co.za

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AT&T Conducts Largest-Ever Network Disaster Recovery Exercise in Wash DC

AT&T is conducting its largest ever Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) exercise at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, DC from July 8 to 17, 2009. The NDR exercise will feature more than 45 disaster recovery trailers and vehicles, including 28 semi-tractor trailers, two emergency communications vehicles, four hazmat trailers, one Satellite COLT (cell on light truck), and five smaller utility and support trailers.


Conducted several times per year, AT&T NDR exercises are designed to test, evaluate, refine, and strengthen how well AT&T can facilitate recovery from emergency situations, ranging from hurricanes to wildfires. The NDR exercise is a key component of AT&T's business continuity plan which ensures communications can be restored quickly to its government and business customers.


Last year, AT&T announced that the NDR team consolidated wireless, wired and backbone network recovery capabilities, enabling AT&T to bring an integrated approach to disaster recovery that helps ensure the flow of both wireless and wired communications during times of need.


"With hurricane season underway, the importance of ensuring communications combined with the need to be fully prepared is critical for both government and business," said, Kevin Peters, executive vice president of AT&T's Global Network Operations. "With the AT&T NDR Exercise, our federal, state and local government agency and Washington metropolitan area business customers can get a firsthand look at how AT&T's integrated approach to disaster recovery can help them maintain communications during a disaster."


Since 1992, AT&T NDR team has been activated more than a dozen times in response to disasters, including restoring service after the tornadoes in Oklahoma in 1999; the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001; Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005; and Hurricanes Gustav, Dolly and Ike in 2008.
http://www.att.com/ndr

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