Virginia Colleges and Universities Connect More Quickly to the Information Superhighway

Virginia Colleges and Universities Connect More Quickly
to the Information Superhighway

Fast-Packet Internet Access Debuts on VERnet

October 9, 1996

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Bell Atlantic has just made a great
Internet access
service even better for colleges and universities in the commonwealth.

Users of the Virginia Education and Research Network (VERnet) now can
zip into cyberspace on improved access ramps to the information
superhighway.

The "ramps" are actually individual, dedicated circuits that
offer
high-speed access to the Internet through Bell Atlantic's Switched
Multi-megabit Data Service . SMDS lets customers increase their
Internet access speeds without spending money on special circuits.

"Just like new entrance ramps on a well-traveled interstate, Bell
Atlantic's SMDS network gets VERnet users onto the Internet faster than
ever before," said Joseph Cascio, vice president of marketing for
Bell
Atlantic Large Business Services. "And our fast-packet VERnet
service
is more affordable than similar services offered by competitors."

VERnet, which is administered by the University of Virginia, was
created so that the commonwealth's universities and libraries could
use their combined buying power to purchase Internet services at a
reasonable price.

The network provided even the smallest Virginia colleges with e-mail,
research sharing, online course postings and other Internet services
that they might not have been able to afford otherwise.

Consequently, VERnet became extremely popular, but growing pains
followed closely on the heels of its success. As the network began to
carry more users, Internet-bound data traffic started to jam.

In August, the University of Virginia awarded Bell Atlantic a
cyberspace "highway improvement" contract, and the company
added SMDS
to the network. VERnet traffic has been rolling smoothly onto the
Internet ever since.

Internet services are marketed through All@once Solutions^(sm), a
family of products and services provided in convenient,
custom-tailored packages by Bell Atlantic Large Business Services.

Customers interested in using Bell Atlantic's SMDS access to VERnet
can find pricing information and application forms on the World Wide
Web at http://www.ver.net.

Bell Atlantic's Large Business Services organization offers customers
Bell
Atlantic All@once Solutions: integrated voice, data and video
applications and the professional consulting and support services that
add up to a precise solution that fits and evolves to meet customers'
specific communications needs.

Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE:
BEL) is at the forefront of the new
communications, entertainment and information industry. In the
mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local
telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the
largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication
marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing
high-growth national and international business opportunities in all
phases of the industry.

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