AT&T Study: Eight in 10 Southern California Businesses Ready for Mudslides, Fires,...

AT&T Study: Eight in 10 Southern California Businesses Ready for Mudslides,
Fires, and Other Disasters

IT Execs Continue to Invest in Backup Systems and New Technologies, But Many
Concerned About Increasing Use of Social Networking Capabilities

LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY and SAN DIEGO, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
With California's wildfire season just underway, a study announced today by
AT&T* reveals that eight in 10 businesses throughout Los Angeles, Orange
County and San Diego have business continuity plans in place. When AT&T last
surveyed Los Angeles in 2007, only two-thirds (64 percent) of the companies
surveyed had business continuity plans - today's announcement of the 2009
survey results show that business continuity has become more of a top priority
in southern California. For the 2009 survey, 100 information technology (IT)
executives were surveyed.

In the land of wildfires, earthquakes and mudslides - all of which have
wreaked havoc and proven to be lessons learned for area companies - one-fourth
(25 percent) of executives indicate that their company has invoked its
business continuity plan citing power outage at facilities (13 percent), fire
(10 percent) and IT failure (9 percent). According to the AT&T study, more
than half (52 percent) of these companies have had their business continuity
plans fully tested in the past 12 months.

Companies whose IT operations have been impacted by natural or man-made
disasters said the biggest lesson learned was the need to plan ahead and have
the backup systems in place. Despite decreasing IT budgets, six our of ten
(59 percent) of executives responded that their companies are investing in new
technologies this year, including software upgrades (13 percent), new
computers and phones (11 percent) and new servers (11 percent). The survey
also found that one-third (30 percent) of the companies require their
suppliers and other vendors to have business continuity plans in place as
well.

"Southern California businesses have learned to not only plan ahead and have
backup systems in place in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, but
also to test these plans regularly to reflect changes in their business," said
Robert Pitts, sales vice president, AT&T Business Solutions. "These survey
results continue to show that southern California-area businesses are prepared
to maintain key processes and recover operations."

According to the study, the majority (72 percent) of southern California
executives indicate their companies have prioritized and set target recovery
times for each of their key business processes, and three-fourths (75 percent)
of the executives surveyed said that their companies have systems in place
that enable most employees to work from home or remote locations. More than
half (54 percent) also have automated calling systems to reach employees by
telephone or cell phone outside of work.

Despite improvements to business continuity planning among Southern California
businesses, the majority (72 percent) of executives surveyed are concerned
about the increasing use of social networking capabilities and its impact on
security threats and slightly more (77 percent) are concerned about the
increasing use of mobile networks and devices and their impact on security
threats. While executives have these concerns, very few view social
networking sites or mobile networks as the biggest security risks.

Study Methodology
The 2009 AT&T Business Continuity Study results are based on an online survey
of 100 IT executives in the Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego
metropolitan areas. The study was conducted by e-Rewards Market Research with
companies having total revenues of more than $25 million in the California
designated market area. Interviews were conducted Feb. 9-14, 2009.

For more information on the AT&T 2009 Business Continuity Study including the
complete research results, visit www.att.com/businesscontinuity-news.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and
affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T Inc.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its
subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of
AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings
are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services, the
nation's fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and the
nation's leading high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic
markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales
leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T
brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As
part of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies are
expanding their TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1
in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE(R) magazine's lists of the
World's Most Admired Companies and America's Most Admired Companies.
Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided
by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.

(C) 2009 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo
and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual
Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of
an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. For more information, please review this
announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.

Deborah Rapoport, AT&T Los Angeles/Orange County, +1-310-482-4276, mobile,
+1-310-561-0621, drapoport@attnews.us, or Courtney Pendleton, AT&T San Diego,
+1-619-237-7722, mobile, +1-714-926-8106, cpendleton@attnews.us