Cingular Wireless today announced that two leading national wireless distributors, Global Wireless Data and Trio Teknologies, now are offering Cingular's Wireless WAN Connectivity Service through their respective national reseller networks. Combined, these distributors represent more than 445 wireless agents and resellers across the U.S.

Cingular's Wireless WAN Connectivity Service, which provides a truly diverse and secure backup or alternative to wireline data connections, was the first commercially available solution of its kind when launched in February 2005. Florida Power & Light Company (FP&L) and American Medical Response (AMR) are among the customers already using the service.

Since its launch, Cingular has concentrated on selling the service to large companies via its direct sales team. The expansion of Wireless WAN Connectivity Service to Cingular's indirect channel will enable the company to effectively tap into the medium and small business markets with a high-value, advanced wireless data service.

"We've been successful in selling the Wireless WAN Connectivity service to our larger business customers and are now able to extend the benefits of truly diverse wireless connectivity to smaller organizations," said Charlie Bolton, vice president, Global and Strategic Sales, Cingular Wireless. "Both Global Wireless Data and Trio Teknologies have the experience and channel breadth necessary to address the needs of the sizeable medium to small business markets and will complement the activities of Cingular's direct B2B sales teams."

Both distributors are Cingular national wireless master dealers with their own extensive networks of partners and sub-dealers. Each also brings impressive wireless wide area network (WWAN) design and deployment experience, plus dedicated WWAN market focus to the table.

Global Wireless Data has been a full-service wireless master dealer for major telecom carriers since its founding in 1997. Today, with over 230 authorized Cingular Wireless sub dealers, Global Wireless Data has distribution relationships with leading WWAN device manufacturers.

Trio Teknologies provides complete wireless solution fulfillment logistics to more than 215 Cingular Wireless dealers nationwide. The company began providing mobile data solutions, including installing rugged laptops, mounting hardware and WWAN modems in police, fire and EMS vehicles in 1997. TrioTek's expertise in deploying critical primary and redundant network access for Public Safety coupled with a highly trained dealer network provides a clear advantage for Cingular's WAN Connectivity Service.

Cingular's Wireless WAN Connectivity service uses a wireless device at the edge of a company's IT network to provide secure backup and primary wide area connectivity for mission-critical data operations. The service leverages Cingular's EDGE network which can deliver average speeds of 70-135kbps (kilobits per second) and is available in more than 13,000 cities and towns across the U.S.

Using Cingular's Wireless WAN Connectivity Service, customers have diverse and secure backup to their wireline data connections should those be disabled by cable cuts, weather or local access outages. The Wireless WAN Connectivity Service also can be used by companies with remote or temporary operations where there is no readily available wireline access.

Cingular Wireless works with more than 1,300 companies that specialize in providing mobility solutions for business customers through Cingular's Business Alliance Partner program. Cingular provides end-to-end support for these companies to assist them in ensuring their applications operate efficiently and reliably on Cingular's nationwide wireless data network, and to help them market their solutions to business customers as well as deliver post-sales customer care and support to provide them with an outstanding end-user experience.