Ask Jeeves® Selects WorldCom Internet Colocation Services

WorldCom Delivers High Performance, Reliability To Leading Provider of Natural-language Question Answering and Search Technology

CLINTON, Miss., March 5, 2002 - WorldCom (NASDAQ: WCOM), the leading global business data and Internet communications provider, today announced that Ask Jeeves, Inc.®, a leading provider of intuitive question answering technologies and search services, has selected WorldCom Internet Colocation Services for its award-winning search solutions.

By choosing WorldCom, Ask Jeeves is benefiting from the cost and operating efficiencies of colocation outsourcing, while leveraging the performance, security and reliability of WorldCom's state-of-the-art Internet data center facilities and direct, scalable, high-speed connections to the facilities-based WorldCom global IP network. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Ask Jeeves has two business units that benefit from WorldCom's Internet colocation services, its Web Properties division, and Jeeves Solutions, its enterprise software division. Both provide users with a superior online experience through innovative question answering technologies and search services. Ask Jeeves' solutions enable companies to convert online shoppers to buyers, reduce support costs, understand customer preferences and improve customer retention. Ask Jeeves also syndicates its solutions to portals, infomediaries, and content and destination sites to help companies increase e-commerce and advertising revenue.

"Ask Jeeves strives to provide fast, dependable, round-the-clock service for the 16.6 million unique users to its Web Properties and its more than 45 corporate customers of Jeeves Solutions software," said Dayne Sampson, vice president of Information Technology for Ask Jeeves. "With WorldCom Colocation Services, that capability is assured. WorldCom's service, support and global Internet infrastructure give Ask Jeeves complete peace of mind."

The WorldCom colocation solution for Ask Jeeves ensures that its Web server farm will be up and running 24x7x365, even at peak usage times - an important consideration for Ask Jeeves, which fielded more than 13 billion questions in 2001. With its industry-leading six-point Internet colocation service level guarantees, WorldCom assures 100 percent network availability, 100 percent power availability and 99+ percent packet delivery, in addition to other key network performance metrics.

"The Ask Jeeves agreement is a significant win for WorldCom, highlighting the quality service, reliability and value of our Internet colocation solutions," said Ron McMurtrie, vice president of WorldCom Global e-Services. "Our job is to help Ask Jeeves maintain its status as one of the Net's top-rated search and leading eCRM providers by delivering world-class Internet infrastructure performance. That's what outsourcing is all about, and it's what WorldCom delivers to our colocation customers every day."

WorldCom offers Web hosting services to meet every customer's need, from Web server colocation to shared, dedicated and custom managed hosting services. WorldCom's suite of global Web hosting services run over the company's award-winning global IP network and through its state-of-the-art data centers located throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific. Web hosting services are part of the full continuum of advanced digital data communications products and services WorldCom provides to business customers of all sizes around the world.

About WorldCom Group
WorldCom Group (NASDAQ: WCOM) is a pre-eminent global communications provider for the digital generation, operating in more than 65 countries with annualized revenues exceeding $21 billion. With one of the most expansive, wholly owned IP networks in the world, WorldCom provides innovative data and Internet services for businesses to communicate in today's market. For more information, go to http://www.worldcom.com.