AT&T GOES ON-LINE
By Adnews Staff
U.S.-based AT&T Corp. will be testing an Internet service within 60 days that it says will make on-line services as easy as using a telephone. Called WorldNet Services, it offers secure business transactions, electronic mail, voice and video conferencing and contact with wireless communications devices. AT&T's business-communications unit will oversee WorldNet, which has three new groups. Gateway Services will provide Internet access to businesses and consumers, Business Multimedia Groupware Services will help companies set up to do business on the World Wide Web, and Content Services will help media companies give shape to their services. Netscape Communication, which produces software to navigate the Internet, and publisher McGraw-Hill, which will develop on-line tours of cyberspace, are partners in the venture. So are on-line directory service McKinley Group, which will make finding information easy, and software firm Verity, which will let users personalize their service and dispatch software agents to do their on-line bidding. The service will not be widely marketed until the trials show it has reached a high enough standard.