The US-based telecommunication service provider AT&T has entered into a multimillion dollar communications network agreement with BMW, the company said in a press release. Under the agreement the company will provide the German automaker with wide area network (WAN) in the US, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Panama and Argentina.
AT&T will provide a regional WAN using its Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology and WAN acceleration services to create flexible, secure and reliable infrastructure to support BMW functions and applications. The integrated virtual private network (VPN) will help the German automaker improve and simplify business process to develop roadmap for converged voice, data, video and cloud based services.
Significance: AT&T has been a network partner for BMW for over past five years. In 2007, the German automaker selected AT&T as the network provider for its ConnectDrive safety and infotainment services. More recently in November 2012, BMW further enhanced these services with a new Machine-to-Machine (M2M) agreement with AT&T. The M2M solutions wirelessly connect diverse devices to a network enabling two-way communications. Presently, all new BMW cars sold in the US has the ConnectDrive service that is equipped with AT&T SIM card. The latest agreement covers BMW’s 41 locations across North and South America including its main production centre in Spartanburg in South Carolina (US) and the global headquarters in Munich (Germany).
