ZoomTown offers personalized online experience to customers - Cincinnati Bell's service - Company Business and Marketing

Communications News, March, 1999

"ZoomTown" is a brand-new online community for customers in Ohio where Cincinnati Bell--using end-to-end DSL equipment from Cisco Systems--provides, via a PC interface, access to a suite of new services enabled by the technology. Customers will find it an easy way to access a variety of services from content providers (shopping, banking, contacting doctors, the Internet, online gaming sites, personalized news, sports, and financial information) by simply pointing and clicking on the services they want. Some ZoomTown residents will be able to telecommute via their corporate network. More than a dozen businesses in Cincinnati have committed to building "store fronts" on ZoomTown, and the Cincinnati Cyclones and The Crown president and CEO, Douglas Kirchhofer, says "We hope to be able to share portions of our games on our site and take the "chat room" concept to a new level by introducing video into the interaction between fans and players."

The menu of services was created by accessing an HTML Web-server application through a client-server application called the Cisco 6510 Dashboard. Cincinnati Bell's use of a cutting-edge combo of end-to-end DSL networking equipment--Cisco's 6100 series advanced DSL access multiplexer, 6510 Service Selection Gateway (SSG), 7000 series terminating units, and 675 SOHO/telecommuter router-which connect Bell's customers to the service, brings ZoomTown service to more than 380,000 residents and businesses in Cincinnati Bell's operating area, including parts of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky where DSL-compatible technology is already in place.

Customers can obtain more information about ZoomTown by calling 513-566-9666 or visit Cincinnati Bell's Web site at www.cincinnatibell.com.

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