ARMONK, N.Y. and DALLAS, Feb. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) today announced an expanded relationship to provide software developers with a set of powerful new tools to create and deploy next generation mobile apps. Customers benefit from access to secure, high quality apps, including those featuring advanced speech recognition and mobile payment capabilities, which can transform how they engage in everyday activities.

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AT&T has been expanding its network capabilities and increasing access to research from AT&T Labs across a range of mobile development platforms, including IBM Worklight. Part of the IBM MobileFirst Application and Data Platform, IBM Worklight is an open, comprehensive and advanced mobile app platform for mobile devices.

Now, the AT&T API Platform, featuring IBM Worklight Adapters, will enable the more than 31,000 members of the AT&T Developer Program to quickly create and securely deploy enterprise apps that improve subscriber engagement and customer loyalty. With these adapters that support AT&T's ecosystem of APIs including those for speech, SMS, device capabilities, notary management and payment, developers can quickly and securely create rich, business-ready apps across a variety of platforms including iOS, Android and Windows.

"AT&T is committed to the success of our rapidly growing developer community. By expanding our platform's reach and making our API toolkit available on an expanding number of platforms, including IBM Worklight, our developers have the information, tools and resources to continue to build great things and contribute to the mobile ecosystem in meaningful new ways," said Carlton Hill, vice president, developer services, AT&T. 

The agreement between IBM and AT&T is timely as Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are faced with the challenge of providing a more personalized mobile experience for their customers and meeting rising demand for quick access to services and innovative apps. Some of the various opportunities enabled by the AT&T Worklight adapters include:

• Efficient Family Communication: Use voicemail-to-text features to transcribe family voicemails, and then post the voice notes to a centralized area for all family members to see.
• Customizable Mobile Payments: Organizations gain the flexibility to control the look and feel of how they present purchase options as well as how they deliver digital goods to the customer.
• Empowered Mobile Workforce: Teams in the field can communicate more efficiently, using SMS to communicate with customers, submit orders and check delivery status.

The AT&T APIs provide the global mobile development community with easy-to-use on-ramps that accelerate app development. The IBM developerWorks community will benefit from a single, easily accessible source of trusted mobile and telecommunications content via the AT&T Developer Program to streamline development processes. Additionally, members of the AT&T developer community using the pre-built IBM Worklight Adapters can further reduce time to market, cost and complexity of development and enable a better user experience across a variety of mobile devices.

"As the business opportunities associated with mobile technologies move beyond the device to the enterprise, we must continue to invest in tools and resources that enable developers to create apps that meet changing demands. Our partners at AT&T share this commitment to building out the mobile development ecosystem and driving more value from mobile technologies," said Phil Buckellew, vice president, mobile strategy, IBM. "With access to some of the most powerful development tools in the industry, developers will now be better able to help organizations accelerate and monetize their mobile strategies."

About IBM MobileFirst
As the first new technology platform for business to emerge since the World Wide Web, mobile computing represents one of the greatest opportunities for organizations to expand their business. Based on nearly 1,000 customer engagements, 10 mobile-related acquisitions in the last four years, a team of thousands of mobile experts and 270 patents in wireless innovations, IBM MobileFirst offers an array of solutions that helps businesses connect, secure, manage and develop mobile networks, infrastructures and applications.

To learn more, visit the IBM MobileFirst press kit or http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst. Follow @ibmmobile, #ibmmobile on Twitter, and see IBM MobileFirst on YouTube, Tumblr and Instagram.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and internationally. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's largest 4G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse^® and AT&T │DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.

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.  This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.

Media Relations Contacts:
IBM
Tara Sucato Tsapepas
Phone: 917.472.3701
Email: tjsucato@us.ibm.com

AT&T
Stacey Harth
Phone: 404.986.1833
Email: stacey.harth@att.com

SOURCE IBM