Cisco And AT&T Business Join Forces For UCMC Platform

Cisco and AT&T have announced a new joint venture that will see Webex Calling with AT&T incorporated into Cisco's Unified Communications Manager for the cloud. 

The collaboration portfolio and cloud communication services offered by Cisco's Webex will now be available to AT&T enterprise clients, and both companies said in a statement that they expected to offer nearly one million users access to the UCMC platform "through sales of Webex Calling with AT&T -- Enterprise over the next five years."

Javed Khan, senior vice president and general manager at Cisco Collaboration, said the UCMC platform will "enhance reliability and performance for all Webex Calling with AT&T – Enterprise users."

Khan added that Webex solutions have "transformed the cloud calling experience and combine enterprise-calling features with market-leading virtual meetings and collaboration technology -- all within the Webex App." 

"Today's environment requires tools that enable flexible and adaptable business operations. By pairing expertise that can help businesses get the most of these solutions together with a high-performing network, we are elevating not only their ability to survive, but also to thrive," said Rich Shaw, a vice president at AT&T Business. 

The two companies stressed that the now-permanent shift to remote work for some employees has forced organizations to invest in cloud, collaboration and security technologies that can protect and facilitate hybrid work environments. 

AT&T explained that by combining its work with 5G, SD WAN, mobility, fiber, IP toll and security with Cisco's infrastructure and cloud communication tools, the companies can make it easier for enterprises to unify "processes across a single-vendor hosted solution while providing integrations across hundreds of applications and ecosystems."