Sterling Commerce Achieves Accreditation as EDI Solution Provider for Suppliers to Ford China and Ford Philippines

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - January 27, 2009) - Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, today announced that it has been accredited by Ford China and Ford Philippines as an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Solution Provider for Ford suppliers, along with eCOM Shanghai, the sole representative of Sterling Commerce in China. By bestowing this accreditation, Ford China and Ford Philippines are giving the seal of approval for its suppliers to utilize this solution to interact with Ford as part of its supply chain.

"Sterling Collaboration Network has the greatest market share for VAN services in the United States, based on revenue," said Phil Smith, vice president, Sterling Collaboration Network Product Line, at Sterling Commerce. "We're excited about this work with Ford as it both extends the breadth of Sterling Collaboration Network in the Asia/Pacific region, but also exemplifies our commitment to supporting the global automotive supply chain."

With this accreditation, Ford suppliers in China, as well as their global suppliers, can confidently use Sterling Collaboration Network (SCN), the company's hosted service that provides secure connectivity and collaboration between businesses, to gain supply chain efficiency. With this solution, these suppliers will be able to securely and reliably exchange business documents, making it simpler to automate their B2B processes to increase their competitiveness and productivity.

eCOM Shanghai resells Sterling Commerce solutions in China. The company also has established a business-to-business/electronic data interchange (B2B/EDI) platform based on Sterling Collaboration Network in Shanghai's Wai Gao Qiao Free Trade Zone. Sterling Collaboration Network simplifies trading partner relationships by eliminating all paper-based transactions and providing end-to-end visibility and control over the business processes shared with outside companies. Today, it provides connections to over 90 other public and private networks and manages as many as 4.5 million B2B documents per day with more than 99.9 percent reliability.

About Sterling Commerce

Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, helps customers thrive in a global economy by connecting their business communities, processes, people and technology. More than 30,000 customers worldwide use Sterling Commerce solutions for business process integration, multi-channel selling, and supply chain fulfillment, and payments management to optimize business performance inside and outside their enterprise. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Sterling Commerce has offices in 24 countries around the world. More information can be found at www.sterlingcommerce.com.