Bell Atlantic Teams with Intermedia Communications to Offer a Seamless National Data Service. Businesses Get High-Speed, End-To-End Frame Relay Service Anywhere in the U.S - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, August 9, 1999

Moving data from New York to Los Angeles and all points in between will soon be a snap for Bell Atlantic business customers.

The company has signed an agreement with Intermedia Communications Inc. that offers customers seamless, coast-to-coast frame relay services through a single point of contact for sales and customer care. Terms of the three-year deal were not disclosed.

Bell Atlantic is currently prohibited from providing long distance frame relay services inside its region. The arrangement with Intermedia will enable Bell Atlantic to connect its existing local frame relay services with Intermedia's network to provide end-to-end frame relay service across the Bell Atlantic region and the country.

"By teaming with Intermedia, we can now offer businesses competitive packages of seamless frame relay services throughout our Northeast and mid-Atlantic service area and beyond," said Joseph Lucatorto, Bell Atlantic vice president of Product Line Management for Data and Video Services. "This arrangement will give our customers an attractive nationwide frame relay solution."

Frame relay, a packet switching technology, is the industry standard for high-speed data transfer and the underlying transport protocol for many Internet protocol (IP) networks. Bell Atlantic and Intermedia are leading providers of frame relay services.

Speed and Convenience Prior to this agreement, Bell Atlantic business customers who needed to transport data between local markets within the Bell Atlantic region or outside the company's service area had to deal with multiple providers. The new Bell Atlantic-Intermedia arrangement eliminates the complex business and operational issues associated with having multiple carriers install and maintain a customer's nationwide data network.

The interface between the two companies' networks will result in an integrated extension of Bell Atlantic's operations and service delivery that will be transparent to customers.

"A key component of Intermedia's strategy has been to build one of the largest, most comprehensive voice, data and IP networks in the country," said Rick Buyens, Intermedia's senior vice president of Sales. "As a result, we have the most advanced nationwide frame relay and ATM network, allowing us to deliver extended reach and high-quality service to Bell Atlantic's data customers."

The performance of this national network will be monitored constantly using Intermedia's ViewSPAN software. ViewSPAN offers end-to-end network monitoring and provides customers an extensive suite of customized reports to monitor their frame relay service and verify service levels. In addition, business users can now get frame relay service with access speeds up to 45 megabits consistently across the nation.

"The agreement with Intermedia enables Bell Atlantic to give its business customers what they want -- end-to-end nationwide networking solutions from a single source," said Melanie Posey, a research analyst with IDC.

Last fall, the companies announced a multi-year deal that allows Bell Atlantic to resell Intermedia's national frame relay data transport services in conjunction with Bell Atlantic's own regional capabilities once Bell Atlantic gains approval to offer long distance service in its local markets. Bell Atlantic expects to enter the long distance market later this year.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 43 million telephone access lines and nearly 10 million wireless customers world-wide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries. FMI: http://www.ba.com.

Intermedia Communications (Nasdaq: ICIX) is one of the nation's fastest-growing telecommunications companies, providing integrated telecommunications solutions to business, government, interexchange and local exchange customers. These solutions include voice and data, local and long distance, and advanced network access services in major U.S. markets. Intermedia's enhanced data portfolio, including frame relay networking, ATM, and a full range of business Internet services, offers seamless end-to-end service virtually anywhere in the world.

Intermedia Communications is headquartered in Tampa, Fla. and can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.intermedia.com.