Acterna Announces Three-year Services Agreement With Lightyear to Support Newly Deployed Centralized Test and Monitoring System

Business Wire, March 21, 2001

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

GERMANTOWN, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2001

Agreement Covers Critical Services and Software Subscription

Services for Acterna's Solutions that Support Provisioning and Performance Monitoring Throughout Lightyear's Next Generation Network

Acterna (NASDAQ:ACTR), the world's second-largest provider of products that test and manage communications networks, today announced a maintenance agreement with Lightyear Communications in support of the newly deployed centralized test and monitoring system from Acterna.

The three-year agreement includes 24-by-7 technical assistance, equipment maintenance, quarterly equipment diagnostics and regular software upgrades for 42 Lightyear sites across the United States.

The agreement, valued at nearly $1 million, complements the $3 million deployment of Acterna's operational support system (OSS) software and equipment for remote network test and monitoring. The critical services agreement and system deployment support Lightyear's aggressive network build out and proactive maintenance programs.

Lightyear, formerly known as UniDial Communications, is one of the nation's fastest growing integrated communications providers (ICP), and among the first to offer combined data and voice services on a single ATM circuit.

"We are at the forefront of providing next generation services to business customers, and we require a performance test and monitoring system that is equally advanced and fully backed by scheduled maintenance," said Michael W. Johnson, chief technical officer for Lightyear. "The Acterna system is a solution with real insurance behind it that enables integrated packet and physical layer centralized test without interrupted service."

"In today's competitive market, providing uninterrupted, high quality and affordable service is the only reliable method for ICPs to reduce churn and build their customer base," said Jim Shea, Acterna vice president of marketing, Centralized Test and Management Systems Division. "Acterna's integrated centralized testing and service management solutions are engineered to make this a reality. We are proud to be in a position to help Lightyear accelerate service provisioning and reduce manual operations while assuring service quality."

The maintenance agreement includes round-the-clock technical assistance, expedited equipment replacement, quarterly dial-up modem checks at each site. It also includes new software releases. The agreement supports the now completed deployment of Acterna's suite of service assurance and service fulfillment solutions.

The system used by Lightyear includes Acterna's NetAnalyst test OSS and the T3AS test and performance monitoring system which provide centralized analysis of DS3, DS1, DS0, frame relay and ATM services.

Acterna's solutions enable automated service fulfillment and service assurance for ILECs, CLECs, IXCs and wireless carriers globally. Capabilities afforded by Acterna's solution include integrated test and monitoring; performance, quality of service (QoS)/service level agreement (SLA) management; network provisioning and service activation, and traffic management.

Each OSS provides open, standard CORBA-based interfaces to external order management, order entry, trouble-ticketing systems and databases.

About Lightyear:

Lightyear Communications brings more than 300,000 business and residential customers nationwide converged Data, Voice and Internet to enhance their efficiency.

As part of the Lightyear promise, the company offers first class sales consulting and customer service for cutting-edge products and services such as: a fully integrated telecom network; customer premise equipment; network management; and customer/product financing. Founded in 1993, Lightyear, formerly known as UniDial Communications, is a privately held company headquartered in Louisville, KY.

To inquire about Lightyear's products or services, please visit its website at www.lightyearcom.com.

About Acterna

Acterna is the world's second largest communications test company, focused entirely on providing test and management equipment, software, systems and services. With presence in 80 countries, Acterna helps customers develop, install and maintain their optical, cable, data/IP, access and wireless networks. Acterna is the world leader in optical and cable networks.

The company was formed by the May 2000 merger of TTC and Wavetek Wandel Goltermann, produces annualized revenue of more than $1 billion, and serves customers with 4,700 employees. Acterna is a subsidiary of Acterna Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTR).

Information about Acterna can be found on the Web at www.acterna.com.

Glossary: Glossary: ATM -- asynchronous transfer mode; CLEC - competitive local exchange carrier; CORBA - common object request broker architecture; DS - digital signal; ICP - Integrated Communications Provider; ILEC - incumbent local exchange carrier; IXC - interexchange carrier; OSS - operations support systems, QoS - quality of service; SLA - service level agreement.