The widespread adoption of cellphones has made it easier for those in business to stay connected, whether they're in the boardroom or on a factory floor thousands of miles away.

But what happens if that phone is lost, especially if it belongs to a small- to-mid-size business owner? Because so few people commit phone numbers to memory, phones have become a contact database that if misplaced could cause work to come to a standstill.

AT&T hopes it has a solution. The telecom giant, in an effort to tap into the $24 billion to $64 billion small-to-medium business market, will now back up cellphone data for companies employing up to 100 people.

The offering is part of an assortment of products the San Antonio-based company has rolled out to broaden its footprint. AT&T already provides security products that let customers keep an eye on their property via the Web and back up information on the phone company's data center. The data can be accessed, copied, stored or retrieved remotely from the data center.

Keith Holmes, vice president of Small Business Inbound Sales, said AT&T has a proven track record of managing networks.

"It's sort of our heritage to focus on the small-to-medium business," Holmes said.

The strategy comes at a time when AT&T, whose mobile phone division is headquartered in Atlanta, has moved into everything from the Internet to Web-based TV as it has seen its landline telephone business decline.

The company's share of the small-to-medium business market is growing at about six percent annually, Holmes said. "We want to get as much of the pie as we can get," he said.

AT&T's entry into the small-to-medium business arena puts it in competition with such companies as IBM and Cisco, he said.

In late February, AT&T relaunched its Web site to offer small businesses the opportunity to bundle services, much like it does the general public.

"Bundling has really changed the game," he said. "The reason it is so important is it helps the customer keep their suite of products simple. They are able to get a better value."