Data Traffic in Manhattan Now Zips Over Bell Atlantic's Transparent LAN Services

Data Traffic in Manhattan Now Zips Over Bell
Atlantic's
Transparent LAN Services

Businesses Get Faster, Less Expensive Way to Connect
Local Data Networks

June 15, 1999

NEW YORK -- Manhattan businesses can now use Bell Atlantic's
Transparent LAN Services to carry data traffic between offices located
across the street or across town.

With Bell Atlantic's Transparent LAN (Local Area Networks) Services,
companies can connect multiple data networks, or LANs, enabling
employees in separate offices to instantly communicate with one another
and share applications such as e-mail, databases, archives and images.

The connection is made over Bell Atlantic's all-fiber network for fast and
reliable delivery and data is sent at "native speed" to match the
speed of the customer's existing data network.

"Connecting LANs used to mean sacrificing speed to gain increased
capabilities. Not anymore," said Mario Codispoti, Bell Atlantic
senior specialist. "Bell Atlantic's Transparent LAN provides
seamless connections at native LAN speeds -- enabling users to share
applications without a system slowdown. With Transparent LAN
Services, customers can focus on running their business and leave the
business of data communications to us."

Bell Atlantic's Transparent LAN Services support 10 megabits per second
(Mbps) Ethernet and 16 Mbps Token Ring LANs. The services are perfect
for businesses that have outgrown the bandwidth provided by their
existing T-1 lines but that don't yet need the capacity offered by a DS-3
circuit.

The company also plans to introduce Fast Ethernet Service (100 Mbps) by
the third quarter of this year and begin trials for Gigabit Ethernet (1,000
Mbps) later this year.

Bell Atlantic is committed to providing its customers with integrated,
turnkey solutions to enhance their business. In keeping with this
commitment, Transparent LAN Services are virtually "plug and
play," meaning they connect directly into a customer's LAN using
an extension device that Bell Atlantic will install at the customer's
location.

The device, as well as the equipment at Bell Atlantic's central office, is
owned and maintained by Bell Atlantic -- eliminating costs to the customer
as well as the hassle of upkeep. Bell Atlantic also provides 24-hour
proactive monitoring and management of the entire network.

Bell Atlantic offers Transparent LAN in the Washington D.C. and
Baltimore metropolitan areas under the name Fiber Distributed Data
Interface (FDDI) Network Services or FNS. There are over 700 active
LAN connections and more than 225 customers are using the service,
including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

The FDIC Communicates LAN-to-LAN

The FDIC is the largest user of Bell Atlantic's FNS with 34 connections at
30 sites throughout Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. With Bell
Atlantic's LAN-to-LAN connection, the government agency can better
manage its resources by sharing applications located on servers housed in
a central location. Bell Atlantic's FNS is also less costly than using
multiple T-1 lines to link separate LANs.

"We chose Bell Atlantic's FNS system to connect our locations in
downtown Washington with our data center in Arlington, Virginia,"
said Mel Dymond, Senior Computer Specialist, FDIC. "Bell
Atlantic's LAN-to-LAN service offers all the capabilities we wanted such
as e-mail, mainframe connections, LAN-based application sharing and
distribution of servers at a cost-savings over traditional T-1 lines.
Connecting LANs has increased internal and external communication,
bringing a sense of unity to our organization and enabling us to maintain
native LAN speed."

Security Feature of Transparent LAN Services

Transparent LAN Services use a special screening software that protects
the privacy of all users on the network. Bell Atlantic assigns each user -- a
company or government agency, for example -- a unique identification
code. The data switch on Bell Atlantic's network automatically
"reads" the customer's code and routes traffic to the
appropriate destination on the customer's local data network.

The screening software permits users to send and receive information
between their locations and restricts access to another user's network.

Bell Atlantic's Enterprise Services Organization offers an extensive suite
of communications solutions. Whether for voice, data, images or video,
Bell Atlantic's provides a tailored approach for customers. To learn more
about Bell Atlantic Solutions--a perfect fit for business--visit
www.bellatlantic.com/largebiz/, or call 1-800-846-1200, ext. 7299.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With 43 million telephone access lines and nine
million wireless customers worldwide, 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.