Some have argued that the big boys of telecom often overlook small and medium businesses in their haste to serve really large companies. The large telcos argue that isn’t true, and in another effort to make that case AT&T Inc. (T) today unveiled a portfolio of professional Web hosting services aimed at the SMB set.
The new services are aimed at helping small and midsize businesses around the world to easily add e-commerce features such as shopping cart applications, blogging capabilities for customer reviews, and online payment solutions from PayPal to their Web sites. The services include support for site and database migrations, one-stop e-commerce site builds, database builds, expanded managed system and server administration, code-execution monitoring, and third-party code debugging and support. Customers of the service also have access to a control panel through which they can access near real-time and historical reports on Web statistics, system utilization, and the ability to manage user preferences.
“Our professional hosting and Web design services are the ideal solution for companies that want to take their business online but don’t want the expense of running and managing servers, software and hardware,” said Steve Caniano, vice president, AT&T Hosting and Application Services. “What’s more, small and midsize businesses now can receive e-commerce support and best practices from highly trained consultants who are e-commerce experts with businesses of all sizes.”
The services are an extension of AT&T’s Web Hosting Virtual Dedicated Server and Managed Dedicated Server offerings, which were introduced in April 2008. New Web hosting customers can take advantage of discounts on the Virtual Dedicated Server and Managed Dedicated Server offerings when they subscribe to one of the AT&T small and midsize business high-speed Internet services or AT&T Tech Support 360, as well as local, long-distance and wireless services.
