AT&T pursues Web-hosting biz

Sprint Corp. is getting out of the Web-hosting business, and AT&T Corp. has started an aggressive campaign to bring displaced federal and commercial customers to its data centers.

AT&T's transition program, announced one week after Sprint said it would be leaving the field, will offer customers moving from another company free installation and free equipment transport up to 300 miles, expedited contracting, flexible financing and aggressive pricing, including one month of free services.

Among AT&T's current customers for Web hosting are the General Services Administration, NASA and the Office of Personnel Management.

Sprint announced earlier this month that it would be winding down its hosting business at a cost of at least $400 million. It will be phasing out operations at eight E-Solutions data centers around the country and consolidating operations in two corporate data centers in Kansas City, Mo., and Reston, Va.

Sprint will retain some customers, and the change could have minimal impact on nine federal agencies now using Sprint Web hosting services, officials said.