Independent Test Rates SAVVIS Tops in Internet Backbone Performance

Business Wire, Nov 11, 1997

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 1997--

SAVVIS' Unique National Network Provides Businesses Nationwide

with Proven Superior Access to the Internet

In the largest-ever independent test of national Internet backbone providers, national Internet carrier SAVVIS Communications Corporation was rated the fastest Internet backbone by Keynote Systems. The comprehensive study of the performance of 34 North American backbone providers over a six-week period, performed by Keynote Systems and Boardwatch Magazine, confirms that SAVVIS' network offers the most reliable and best-performing Internet services to corporate Internet users.

Keynote's backbone performance results comprise a portion of the overall Keynote/Boardwatch Internet Backbone Performance Index, which shows performance differences and also includes additional rankings based on price/performance and performance under load. Full analysis and details of the Internet Backbone Index are available in the Fall issue of the Boardwatch Directory of Internet Service Providers, which is scheduled to be issued by Boardwatch later this month.

"On the Web, poor performance means lost customers and lost revenue," said Jim Barrick, president and chief executive officer of Keynote Systems. "The Backbone Index gives organizations evaluating backbone services for their Web sites a comparative third-party measurement of actual performance in delivering Web content from a particular backbone to the general population of Internet users. According to the Index, SAVVIS does this more than twice as fast as the average backbone and more than three times faster than the five slowest backbones we measured."

SAVVIS won the top spot on the Keynote Backbone Index with the fastest average page-download time of 4.905 seconds. The SAVVIS network is designed to greatly reduce the bottlenecks and slowdowns on the public Internet in order to offer the highest quality and most consistent connections to the Internet available today. The network links 17 major metropolitan areas and utilizes a unique architecture based on Private Network Access Points (Private NAPs) to bypass the often congested public Metropolitan Area Exchanges (MAEs) and NAPs that slow traffic on the Internet.

SAVVIS was previously named "Best Value" and "Best Performance Under Load" in the first Keynote/Boardwatch Internet Backbone Performance Index released in July. Other national networks rated in both tests include CompuServe, UUNET, Internet MCI, Sprint, DIGEX, PSInet, AGIS, and BBN Planet.

"Internet access has become a critical communications service for today's businesses. Our goal at SAVVIS is to meet the needs of this demanding customer segment," said M.C. "Sam" Sanderson, president and chief executive officer at SAVVIS Communications Corporation. "We are pleased that the results of these tests conducted by Keynote confirm that we are succeeding in our mission to offer the most reliable and best performing access to the Internet for our customers. Especially when coupled with the results from Keynote's first study in July, these results validate that SAVVIS' network, based on our unique Private NAP architecture, consistently performs at a superior level."

SAVVIS' rapidly growing customer base includes companies such as Apple Computer, PointCast, Inc., Omron Electronics Inc., CDnow and numerous regional and local ISPs. SAVVIS recently completed a round of private placement funding of more than $7 million to support its growth.

About the Keynote/Boardwatch Internet Backbone Performance Index

The Keynote/Boardwatch Internet Backbone Performance Index is a standard measurement of Internet backbone performance corresponding to the experience of end users accessing World Wide Web sites connected to those backbones. It provides organizations evaluating Internet connectivity, hosting, or collocation services for their Web sites a comparative shopping guide based on actual performance measurements by a third party and not just claims of bandwidth, capacity or superior engineering by the backbone providers.

Complete measurement results, performance graphics and an article describing the methodology and analyzing the test results are featured in the Fall issue of the Boardwatch Directory of Internet Service Providers. The directory is available November 21 on newsstands or can be purchased directly from Boardwatch by phone (1-800-933-6038) or through their Web site (http://www.boardwatch.com) by late November. A summary of the results will be available at no charge on the Boardwatch and Keynote Web sites (http://www.keynote.com).

About SAVVIS Communications Corporation

SAVVIS Communications Corporation, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., and founded in 1995, is a national Internet carrier offering high quality Internet access services. SAVVIS has implemented a unique network architecture on a national DS-3 ATM network (currently in 17 cities) that offers exceptional quality and consistency in Internet services. SAVVIS can be reached on the Internet at http://www.savvis.com.