AT&T TO BUY IBM NETWORK BUSINESS FOR USD5 BILLION.

AT&T Corp. said it would acquire International Business Machines Corp.'s Global Network corporate networking business for USD5 billion in cash, in the US telecommunications giant's latest push to expand beyond its traditional long-distance customer base. As part of the deal, IBM granted AT&T a five-year, USD5 billion contract to handle a large portion of IBM's networking needs, while AT&T has outsourced some of its applications processing and data management work to IBM. IBM, the world's largest computer maker, will handle jobs such as billing and installation for AT&T's long-distance customers. The outsourcing contracts are valued at USD4 billion over 10 years. IBM will also take over management of AT&T's data processing centres...