In a concerted move to facilitate businesses augment productivity through seamless cloud connectivity, AT&T Inc. T has collaborated with Google Cloud — a suite of cloud computing services offered by Alphabet Inc. GOOGL. The strategic partnership is a classic example of a mutually reciprocal relationship as both the firms aim to benefit from the win-win deal.
The collaboration is part of Google’s newly launched Partner Interconnect program that offers high-bandwidth connectivity to the nearest Google Cloud Platform (GCP) region through its partners. Partner Interconnect offers private connectivity to GCP to organizations whose data centers are geographically distant from a Google Cloud region at a speed of up to 10Gbps using partners’ connections.
Diverse companies are increasingly opting for cloud computing services to improve business agility with scalable, on-demand services. However, security, performance and control on data remain key issues for a seamless transfer and easy accessibility. AT&T NetBond for Cloud addresses these issues by directly connecting to the cloud, providing secure and seamless access to enterprise applications and data. It enables customers to utilize their Virtual Private Networks to connect to any cloud compute or IT service environment in AT&T’s partner ecosystem, entirely bypassing the Internet from virtually anywhere on almost any device.
By utilizing the combined capacity of Google Cloud Partner Interconnect through AT&T NetBond for Cloud, businesses of all sizes will be able to move data across multiple cloud environments without compromising on security by eliminating the use of public Internet. In addition, users will benefit from G Suite — Google's cloud-based productivity suite for business such as Gmail, Docs and Drive — that would be readily available through AT&T Collaborate, a hosted voice and collaboration solution for businesses. This, in turn, will enable business entities to get access to a single source for chat, voice, video and desktop sharing to improve productivity and increase flexibility for a mobile employee base.
By teaming up with AT&T’s NetBond for Cloud ecosystem, Google has joined more than 20 leading cloud providers to give access to above 130 different cloud solutions across the globe. The alliance will likely strengthen Google Cloud’s leading position in the market while reinforcing AT&T NetBond for Cloud efficacy to tap into new market segments.
Incidentally, AT&T has underperformed the industry over the past year with an average loss of 16.1% compared with a decline of 11.4% for the latter. It remains to be seen whether this strategic tie-up with Google Cloud can boost the sagging shares of the company.
AT&T currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the industry are Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI and Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. UBNT, both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Motorola has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%. It surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 12.1%.
Ubiquiti Networks has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 18.6%. It topped estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 8.9%.
Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies
It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6%, and +67.1%.
And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 – 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Be the first to comment