Williams Communications Solutions Introduces WilCare® Services; Comprehensive Services Mark Williams' Entry Into Exploding Enterprise Services Market - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, May 29, 2000

Williams Communications Solutions, a leading provider of fully integrated enterprise network solutions to businesses throughout North America, Monday announced the introduction of WilCare -- a comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end data, telecom and professional services designed to help businesses deploy and better manage next-generation data, voice, video, IP and multimedia networks.

WilCare is an extension of the company's existing support services, and signals a shift for Williams Communications Solutions as it works to meet growing demand for its expertise in planning, design, implementation, management and maintenance of complex and converging communications networks.

Williams Communications Solutions, a unit of Tulsa-based Williams Communications (NYSE: WCG), is headquartered in Houston, employs 6,400 and supports some 100,000 customer sites through its 110 sales and service locations across North America.

"Keeping up with advances in communications technology is a huge challenge for today's businesses," said Patti Schmigle, president of Williams Communications Solutions. "WilCare services bring together our variety of services that complement our extensive capabilities and product portfolio.

"Williams brings a unique capability to businesses with its overall consulting approach to data, voice, video, IP and multimedia networking," said Schmigle. "Because our solutions are vendor independent, we can assist any size company to better understand its current data, voice and multimedia environments, identify cost drivers, then design and implement a turnkey solution with the optimum combination of communications technologies and services to meet specific business objectives."

WilCare services provide support for converging communications environments using a variety of bundled and stand alone service options, including:

* Planning
* Design and engineering
* Implementation
* Management
* Maintenance
* Training

According to Jim Greenway, vice president of marketing for Williams Communications Solutions, WilCare services provide the most advanced, complete communications services in the industry, covering telecom, data and professional services, and even wholesale installation and maintenance services for its alliance partners.

WilCare services also provide advanced call center solutions to help organizations strategically evaluate, implement and manage customer care-based call centers. Services include call center analysis, design, application development, project management, application integration, maintenance and support, as well as education and training. In addition, Williams Communications Solutions' CTI Lab offers the expertise of programmers and systems analysts to develop customized software solutions.

"As network integrators compete for network services expenditures, some vendors are expanding their professional capabilities service offerings in an effort to distinguish themselves in the market. In today's marketplace vendors must provide services that maximize customer value from consulting and planning to on-going operations management," said Eric Goodness, director and principal analyst, Network and Internet Services, Gartner/Dataquest.

"In today's evolving marketplace, business models have much shorter communications technology cycles," said Greenway. "A company risks appearing outdated or losing its competitive edge if it doesn't evolve as quickly as the competition. Through WilCare services, Williams Communications Solutions is offering its expertise to help businesses adapt and change as the marketplace demands, regardless of the type of communications support required. We can supply as much as a business requires, all the way to total outsourcing."

Williams Communications Solutions LLC is a North American, single-source provider of business communications equipment and multimedia integration services for data, voice, video and advanced applications. Its network support solutions include a portfolio of full-service products from the industry's leading manufacturers, as well as configuration, design, installation, maintenance and management services for mission-critical data, voice, video, IP and multimedia networks.

Williams Communications, through its subsidiaries, is North America's only exclusively carrier-focused fiber-optic network and the largest independent source of end-to-end integrated business communications solutions -- data, voice or video. Based in Tulsa, Okla., Williams Communications had revenues of $2 billion in 1999 and today has more than 9,000 employees primarily in North America, with offices in Europe and Asia and investments in South America and Australia. Approximately 85 percent of WCG stock is held by Williams (NYSE: WMB) which, in 1985, became the first energy company to harness its core competency as a builder of networks to enable competition in the communications industry. Additional information is available at www.williams.com and www.williamscommunications.com.