Treasury Picks AT&T For IP Network

The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded to AT&T Government Solutions and a team of subcontractors a contract for a new high-speed, IP-based network that will connect more than 1,000 domestic locations and tens of thousand of users in the United States and overseas. The contract could be worth as much as $1 billion over 10 years.

The Treasury Communications Enterprise network will be the largest civilian agency network, AT&T said Tuesday in a statement. The three-year contract, with seven one-year options, calls for a secure VPN that can handle Treasury's voice, data, and video traffic and accommodate future technologies such as voice over IP and real-time video. Treasury users will be able to use a Web-based interface to do online ordering and billing, as well as access help-desk support and network performance data.

AT&T said its team of subcontractors includes Accenture, BAE Systems, DigitalNet, DreamHammer, GTSI, Lucent Technologies, and SRA.