Boeing, AT&T ink $400 million deal; Schaumburg office included

Boeing will converge wireline and wireless services for 130 of its offices, including its Chicago headquarters and Schaumburg office, under a new $400 million deal with AT&T Inc.

The five-year contract, in the works for about a year, was announced Tuesday. The project is expected to be completed over the next few months.

AT&T, which has its Midwest headquarters in Hoffman Estates, will consolidate Boeing's existing telecommunications networks into one Internet Protocol-enabled voice-and-data network, said Ellen Gargiulo, vice president of AT&T's Signature Client Group West in San Francisco.

"Boeing's vision was a blueprint to develop and deliver our innovative solution," said Gargiulo.

AT&T has done similar work on major contracts with Royal Dutch Shell, Starbucks, IBM, General Motors and the U.S. Treasury Department.

"Moving to a primary service provider is expected to help us realize cost savings and help us increase productivity," said Boeing spokeswoman Catherine Rudoloph. She declined to say how much would be saved.

The more streamlined IP-based system will consolidate operations and ultimately help customers and vendors, said Gargiulo.

"This will provide Boeing with more agility to roll out their applications across the network," Gargiulo said.

While Boeing has plunged into an all-IP-based system, others hesitate, mostly because of concerns over power outages that would cut off IP phone systems. However, Boeing will have a backup emergency power source, Gargiulo said. "There will be emergency phones based strategically around the company, so they know they will always have a dial tone, even if it's with the old-fashioned traditional phone," Gargiulo said.