Parus Interactive Taps AT&T to Streamline Networking Services

Chicago, Illinois, April 4, 2006, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced today that it has won a three-year, $6.3 million networking contract to integrate and simplify local, toll-free and data networking services for Parus Interactive, one of the nation’s largest unified communications providers.

Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T will provide Parus with a portfolio of inbound 800 services and local service. AT&T will also supply a high-speed data network, delivering a cost-effective, reliable and high-performance networking solution.

Parus Interactive provides business clients with natural speech recognition communications solutions designed to streamline inbound and outbound communications in a wide variety of settings, including bill payment, order status, call centers and CRM applications. The company’s patented speech-enabled interfaces link users to a full range of information without cumbersome touch-tone commands or costly human operators.

"AT&T’s e-tools enable us to manage all of our services with the click of a mouse, allowing us to focus our resources on our customers and strengthening our technology" said Dr. Bruce Bedford, vice president of marketing for Parus Interactive. "Our new relationship with AT&T allows us three distinct advantages in the markets we serve" noted Dr. Bedford:

- Increased flexibility — With AT&T, a custom solution has been designed that fits Parus’ business needs by keeping pace with its clients’ frequent requests for toll-free numbers or modifications of service to existing numbers.
- More efficient and accurate customer service — Now Parus can create service diagnostics requests and check their status using the advanced AT&T solution. This allows Parus to provide customers with the immediate status on their account questions. Additionally, Parus’ system is directly linked with the AT&T solution through XML technology, ensuring the highest accuracy and exceptional resource management.
- More rapid account provisioning — The AT&T solution allows Parus to provision their own numbers and facilities, which results in rapid provisioning of all new client accounts.

In addition, through the secure AT&T BusinessDirect® portal, Parus Interactive has around-the-clock online access to real-time reports on network performance and direct connection to electronic billing and trouble management systems.

About Parus Interactive
Based in Bannockburn, Illinois, privately held Parus Interactive is a leading applications service provider that offers audio conferencing, unified messaging and other communications services to a diverse range of enterprises and entrepreneurs. Its award-winning speech recognition technology and customer care services allow clients to leverage the growing preference by callers for natural language self-service, while lowering operating costs and adding revenue through innovative approaches to cross-selling and up-selling. With tens of thousands of customers who rely on it to easily send and receive their phone calls, e-mails and faxes through a single phone number, Parus Interactive is also the nation’s largest hosted unified communications provider. Its services are IP-based and powered by advanced voice recognition and session initiation protocol (SIP) technologies.

About the New AT&T
AT&T Inc. is one of the world’s largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high-speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with more than 54 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at www.TheNewATT.com.

© 2006 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved. Subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. provide products and services under the AT&T brand.

Contact Information

Janet Wyles

AT&T Inc.

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