Multi-Million Dollar, Multi-Year Deal Will Supply Backbone
Transport to the Internet
CLINTON, MS, April 12, 2000 - MCI WorldCom (NASDAQ: WCOM) today
announced it has signed a five-year, multi-million dollar contract with
Aperian (OTC BB:MSIA), an Austin, Tex.-headquartered Internet
infrastructure provider. The contract allows Aperian's data centers to
utilize their Direct Optical Co-location Connection (DOCCÔ) technology
and access MCI WorldCom's Internet network. Aperian's DOCC technology
enables business customers to scale their bandwidth needs to virtually
unlimited bandwidth on demand without the need for local loop
connectivity.
"This contract is a win-win for Aperian and MCI WorldCom," said
Steve Dobel, MCI WorldCom's president of Major, National and Telecom
Accounts. MCI WorldCom's Internet business will continue to grow while
helping Aperian reach its business goals and provide next generation
infrastructure services to business customers nationally."
Under the terms of the contract, MCI WorldCom will provide Aperian
with direct access to its Internet network in three cities immediately,
including Austin, Dallas and Tampa. A nationwide expansion is planned
to be completed by Aperian in the next 18 months and will include
Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle
and Washington, D.C., with additional cities to be announced in the
near future.
"Our business model is built on the ability to place our customers'
content directly 'inside the Internet' to ensure that it is delivered
to their end-users in the safest, fastest, most efficient way," said
Robert Gibbs, president and CEO of Aperian. "MCI WorldCom's
best-of-class reputation, large presence in Europe and South America,
and robust network made it the logical choice as our redundant Internet
bandwidth provider. The agreement will also accelerate our
international growth and expansion. Our DOCC technology coupled with
direct access to one of the world's most rigorously-engineered Internet
networks assures Aperian's customers superior performance and
reliability."
About Aperian:
Aperian supplies Internet Infrastructure and bandwidth for the
delivery of enriched multimedia intensive content, including full
motion video and audio. Through a strategic alliances with Tier-1
Internet backbone providers, Aperian can host and co-locate websites in
their data centers which sit directly on the Internet backbone fiber.
Aperian's DOCC technology completely avoids the traditional local
loop and delivers virtually unlimited bandwidth on demand. Aperian is
publicly traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol
"MSIA." For more information regarding Aperian visit
www.aperian.com.
About MCI WorldCom:
MCI WorldCom (NASDAQ: WCOM) is a global leader in
"all-distance" communications services with operations in
more than 65 countries. Revenues in 1999 were $37 billion, with more
than $15 billion from high-growth data, Internet and international
services. MCI WorldCom and Sprint have announced a merger agreement,
which the companies expect to close in the second half of 2000 after
regulatory and shareholder approvals. For more information go to
http://www.wcom.com.
