AT&T Names New CIO Amid IT Reorganization

AT&T Inc. has named a new CIO as part of an internal technology reorganization meant to keep pace with the carrier’s shift, started earlier this year, toward a software-defined public network.

Pam Parisian, senior vice president of mobility and home IT solutions at AT&T, will be chief information officer of AT&T Services.

The reorganization, which also includes the formation of three new business units, is designed to reduce complexity and make it easier for the carrier to offer services to customers as it transforms its hardware-focused network into a software-centric one, said a person familiar with the matter. Given this new direction, “there were distinctions between AT&T Labs, IT and network operations that didn’t make sense,” that person said. The changes will take effect on September 16.

The shift comes as the second-largest U.S. telecom carrier continues to replace much of the infrastructure of its public network, based on expensive switches and routers with cheaper hardware and virtualized applications. AT&T first announced the move in February.

In June, AT&T’s Marian Croak, senior vice president for domain 2.0 architecture and advanced services development, told CIO Journal that one of the goals was to allow big corporate customers to more quickly tap new services, such as the ability to add more capacity.

The formation of three new business units could help AT&T bring new services and capabilities to market more quickly, while lowering its costs. Thaddeus Arroyo, formerly chief information officer of AT&T Services, is now president of a new technology development group that will include end-to-end services, customer experience and network security strategy. Ms. Parisian will report to Mr. Arroyo. Krish Prabhu will head up the architecture business unit and he will remain president of AT&T Labs and CTO of AT&T Services. In this role, he will be responsible for architecture planning and design. Bill Smith, formerly president of network operations, will lead technology operations including hardware planning, network operations and engineering. All three men will report to John Donovan, senior executive vice president of AT&T Technology and Network Operations.

AT&T’s capital spending budget is about $21 billion this year; about one-third of capital sending at U.S. telecom companies goes to network equipment, the Journal’s Thomas Gryta reported in February.