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From Voice to Data
St. Louis
emerges as the hub for Southwestern Bell's overall growth and
entry into broadband
communications.
The telecommunications
industry is growing at the speed of light. And, Southwestern Bell
is doing its part to foster this growth, and in the process, is
developing its own business and furthering its commitment to the
St. Louis region.
Just
four years ago, SBC operated in five states, Missouri, Arkansas,
Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and had approximately 50,000 employees.
Today, the company's more than 200,000 employees and its strong
presence in more than 20 states, the District of Columbia and
several overseas markets, give SBC the scale to compete globally.
With
nearly 170,000 customers at year end, SBC is the national leader
in Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology, a high-speed data
communications service. This growth and other achievements have
earned the company recognition by Fortune magazine as the
"World's Most Admired Telecommunications Company" for three years
running.
Jan Newton
President, Southwestern Bell - Missouri
SBC's
merger with Ameritech, completed this past fall, marks a major
milestone in the company's strategy to become a worldwide telecommunications
powerhouse, offering communications services wherever customers
need them. Completing the transaction also paves the way for SBC's
national expansion into 30 major U.S. markets it does not currently
serve.
Helping
Fuel Local Economy
"For
the St. Louis region, those expectations have meant tremendous
opportunity for Southwestern Bell employees," says Jan Newton,
president of Southwestern Bell Missouri "but, just as important,
it's meant opportunity for our customers ranging from residential
consumers to small businesses, and from work-at-home professionals
to major corporations, which will continue to benefit from the
leading-edge products and services offered by Southwestern Bell."
While Southwestern
Bell already ranks among the largest St. Louis-area employers,
with a growing workforce of about 9,000 in the region, the prospect
for significant jobs is on the horizon. Importantly, more than
4,500 of the company's regional employees are located downtown,
making Southwestern Bell the largest private employer downtown.
Above:
Under Project Pronto, Southwestern Bell will deploy fiber
optics deeper into neighborhoods and equip them with neighborhood
broadband gateways, putting super-fast Internet access closer
to customers across the St. Louis region.
Further,
under the company's "data-centric" vision, SBC has recently established
St. Louis as the hub for additional company groups responsible
for, among other functions, provisioning and installing high-speed
broadband data services, including DSL, to residential and business
customers. Employees began moving into a new facility in early
February, and will continue to meet the needs of residential and
business customers as demand for Southwestern Bell's high-speed
data services increases.
St.
Louis also serves as the new corporate headquarters for SBC Directory
Operations, which produces and publishes about 125 million copies
combined of the company's more than 800 Yellow Pages and White
Pages directories nationwide. Numbers of that magnitude make SBC
Directory Operations the world's largest
publisher of Yellow Pages directories and the second largest publishing
firm--of any kind--in the country.
It's
All About Data
While
the company remains focused on its core business of providing
the most reliable telephone service to residential and business
customers, Southwestern Bell is becoming a leader in new and emerging
data communications markets
In
fact, an analyst with Prudential Securities recently characterized
Southwestern Bell's parent company, SBC, as the "first
Data Bell Operating Company, or DBOC," a term coined in direct
reference to RBOC or Regional Bell Operating Company.
The
cornerstone of SBC's data-centric vision is the deployment of
DSL technology, which provides Internet connections over traditional
copper phone lines at speeds of up to 200 times faster than conventional
modems. Last fall, SBC announced a $6 billion three-year initiative,
called Project Pronto, of which about $230 million will be dedicated
to Southwestern Bell's St. Louis-area network, providing always-on,
high-speed voice, data and video services to business and residential
consumers. The Project Pronto investment is in addition to $430
million in network upgrades completed in the St. Louis region
over the past 24 months.
Already,
every Southwestern Bell central office in the City of St. Louis
is equipped with DSL capability. Over the next year, nearly every
central office in the metro area will be DSL-capable. Project
Pronto efforts also include deploying remote terminals, enabling
DSL to reach deeper into our region's neighborhoods.
Above:
The
Southwestern Bell Library and Technology Resource Center at Harris-Stowe
State College in Midtown St. Louis is a state-of-the-art facility,
featuring high-speed telecommunications, videoconferencing and
advanced multi-media computers.
"Project
Pronto is about the future," Newton states. "This initiative affirms
the company as a high-tech leader responding to the Internet and
high-speed data needs of residential and business customers."
In
addition to DSL, the company offers business customers a full
range of access technologies and data solutions to help meet their
communications needs. Access technologies include DSL, Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN), ATM Cell Relay and Frame Relay--all
data transport offerings that provide greater flexibility and
cost effectiveness for enterprise networks.
One-Stop
Solutions
SBC also
has plans to offer long-distance service within the states it
currently serves. Texas became the first SBC territory to receive
state clearance to enter long distance. Southwestern Bell has
requested approval in other states, including Missouri, and anticipates
a decision by the end of the year.
"With long
distance, and because we're leading the market with high-speed
Internet access through our Project Pronto initiative, we're prepared
to be the preferred communications company for all our customers'
needs," Newton says. "And, we're moving fast toward the goal of
providing 'one-stop shopping' for telecommunications products
and services."
On the business
front, customers already are benefiting from Southwestern Bell's
line-up of broadband-powered services including Online Office,
a suite of services that helps small businesses easily and affordably
become e-businesses, and Enterprise Virtual Private Networks,
which allows large businesses to securely connect multiple locations
without expensive, dedicated lines.
Above:
Southwestern
Bell has made major contributions to the Multimedia Interactive
Networked Technologies (MINTS) program, which enhances education
by integrating computers and advanced telecommunications technology
with traditional subjects. Originally piloted by Southwestern
Bell and the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet)
in six local school districts, MINTS classrooms have experienced
dramatic improvements in student achievement and interaction.
Southwestern
Bell also has recently introduced several consumer products, including:
- Privacy
Manager a call screening device that works with Caller
ID to help ensure incoming call control by getting information
on blocked or unidentified callers.
- EMessage
a simple and affordable e-mail only communications system
that enables users to send and receive e-mail messages via the
Internet without using a computer.
- Call Waiting
ID combines Caller ID and Call Waiting, enabling customers,
even while on the phone, to identify callers.
- Simple
Solutions combines the most popular products and services,
as well as DIRECTV programming, into one customized package
via a call to a toll-free number.
A
Local Commitment
Along
with its unprecedented growth and new and emerging products and
services, Southwestern Bell, with a 120-year history in St. Louis,
remains more committed than ever to the region. Over the past
few years, the company also has contributed millions of dollars
and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to various civic,
community and economic development initiatives in the area, including:
- Southwestern
Bell Digital Services Park in Wellston designed to help bridge
the digital divide by deploying high-speed communications in
an economically depressed area.
- Two Southwestern
Bell Fiber Parks in St. Charles County to provide high-speed
telecommunications access, supporting business growth along
the I-40 and I-370 corridors.
- Multimedia
Interactive Networked Technologies (MINTS) program, which enhances
K-12 education by integrating advanced telecommunications technology
with traditional subjects.
- Harris-Stowe
State College Technology Resource Center, a state-of-the-art
facility featuring high-speed telecommunications, videoconferencing
and advanced multi-media computers.
- St. Louis
Science Center's Cyberville Gallery, featuring high-tech exhibits
and hands-on activities that make complex technology user-friendly
and easy to understand for all ages.
- Partnerships
with local law enforcement, 9-1-1 agencies and local elementary
schools to teach children the ABCs of 9-1-1 safety.
"These
programs," Newton says, "as well as our merger with Ameritech
and roll out of Project Pronto, will help us continue to meet
the needs of our customers and the communities where our employees
live and work.
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