MCI Helps Companies Of All Sizes Manage Local Area Networks

Companies Can Now Outsource LAN to WAN Management to MCI While Laying Foundation for Convergence

ASHBURN, Va., DECEMBER 8, 2004 - MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCIP) today rolled out a new suite of Managed Local Area Networking (LAN) services for businesses of all sizes. Previously offered as custom solutions to its largest customers, MCI is standardizing its managed LAN capabilities so more companies can enhance the performance and reliability of their networks from LAN to WAN, while laying the foundation for next-generation services like IP communications and IP contact centers.

With its expanded Managed Network Services portfolio, MCI gives companies the flexibility to fully or partially outsource the management of their local area networks to gain a seamless view into their LAN and WAN environments. As a result, businesses can reduce the complexity of managing networks, while making it easier to deploy converged networks. More companies are finding end-to-end quality of service increasingly important as they transition to IP communications.

"Leveraging our 15-year heritage of managing large enterprise networks, MCI is helping companies build and run next-generation networks," said Jim DeMerlis, vice president for MCI Managed Network Services. "MCI's new LAN-to-WAN capabilities give customers more options in operating increasingly complex network environments-a real advantage given the critical role networks play in business today."

According to Eric Goodness, principal analyst from research firm Gartner, companies will increasingly outsource management of their LAN and WAN infrastructure as more businesses move to a single platform to run IP-based applications, such as VoIP.

Managed LAN Services are available immediately to MCI WAN customers in the U.S. and are ideal for organizations needing a new LAN or help in managing one. For firms requiring a new LAN, MCI's expert technical staff can assess and design the local area network by addressing the customer's current and future communications needs, and then provision and implement the solution, providing access, transport, customer premise equipment (CPE) and continuous network monitoring and management.

MCI can also take over the management of an existing network, following a thorough network evaluation for performance and efficiency. Working closely with the customer, MCI will carefully manage the migration, resulting in a smooth transition.

Unlike other providers, MCI offers companies a choice of three levels of LAN management, including Premium (where the local area network is fully managed by MCI), Basic (shared LAN management between the customer and MCI), and Monitoring & Notification, (MCI monitors the network only). This way, customers can select the exact level of control desired to meet their specific situation.

With MCI's Premium service, businesses receive ongoing management and proactive notification as well as full logical and physical CPE fault isolation to keep their networks continuously running. Ensuring the network is secure, MCI can also recommend and deploy the appropriate security mechanisms, ranging from policy development to access control to audit and breach detection services.

MCI's Managed LAN Services are available with the company's Managed Network, Security, Hosting and Contact Center Services, as well as MCI Advantage, delivering a total integrated solution for customers. By utilizing one provider to build and maintain their networks, companies of all size can more easily focus on their business.

Today MCI manages more than 2,700 customer networks in 120 countries for companies such as NASDAQ, DaimlerChrysler, Amer Sports, Viewpointe, and Resun Corporation.

About MCI
MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCIP) is a leading global communications provider, delivering innovative, cost-effective, advanced communications connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers. With the industry's most expansive global IP backbone, based on the number of company-owned points of presence, and wholly-owned data networks, MCI develops the converged communications products and services that are the foundation for commerce and communications in today's market. For more information, go to www.mci.com.