Boeing is paying AT&T $400 million over the next five years to consolidate its current voice and data networks into one IP-based system.

In selecting AT&T as it's primary telecom provider, Boeing will use AT&T's WAN services, voice and audio conferencing systems, managed Internet service, as well as wireless voice and data services. AT&T says it will also implement its MPLS-enabled VPN to give Boeing employees enterprise connectivity, and also to support internal voice capabilities that will extend out to the company's remote workforce, its suppliers and its business partners.

"This important agreement with AT&T reflects our strategy to converge network services, voice services and wireless services," says Radha Radhakrishnan, Boeing's vice president of computing and network operations. "Moving to a primary service provider is expected to help Boeing achieve significant cost savings and increase productivity."

Ellen Gargiulo, AT&T's Signature Client Group vice president, says that Boeing's big need is to move from a multicarrier environment into a single-carrier system to deliver their core IP network, which will include LAN and WAN services, wireline and wireless voice services, and also audio conferencing. Additionally, she says that AT&T will be providing Boeing with a  wireless voice and data access plan that will synchronize Boeing conferencing and local services up to AT&T's main voice platform. Thus, if a Boeing customer calls the company for a conference call from a wireless device, they will not incur any charges because it will be sent through AT&T’s synchronized system.

AT&T's big deal with Boeing is just one of many that the carrier has inked with large corporations and government agencies over the past two years. Last February, AT&T signed a $1 billion contract with General Motors to manage network performance for all of the company's global service providers. Seven months later, AT&T scored another $1 billion deal, this time to build and manage a next-generation WAN for the US Treasury Department. And earlier this year, AT&T finalized a deal to take over the deployment and management of Starbucks' in-store Wi-Fi networks.