MCI Teams with Oracle to Enhance Service Delivery for Hosting Customers

Oracle® Grid Control Helps MCI to Reduce Complexity of Managing IP Applications

ASHBURN, Va., and REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., December 14, 2004 - MCI (NASDAQ: MCIP) today announced it is working with Oracle to enhance service delivery of its Enterprise Hosting application management services and optimize its managed hosting infrastructure.

MCI Enterprise Hosting now utilizes the Grid Control functionality of Oracle® Enterprise Manager 10g to help reduce the cost and complexity of managing its advanced systems, while maximizing service levels for its customers. Based on Oracle technology, MCI Enterprise Hosting Service now has a single, integrated console to more easily administer and monitor the company's many IP applications and systems. Oracle Grid Control provides MCI with system management capabilities to deliver optimal system performance and reliability so that MCI customers can securely deploy scaleable, high-performing applications over the Internet.

"Oracle Grid Control enables MCI to improve database administration productivity and provide proactive management, while minimizing downtime," said Joe Crawford, senior director for MCI Hosting Services. "One of the largest advantages of this offering is that it identifies potential problems before they become a reality."

Managing Hundreds of Systems Through a Single Console
MCI monitors and measures the performance availability of hundreds of database servers. Oracle Grid Control enables MCI Enterprise Hosting to easily track changes in hardware and software configurations resulting in reduced time and increased consistency of security administration and patch management. In addition, MCI administrators receive a consolidated view for end-user, service and system performance to manage and monitor their systems from anywhere at anytime via Oracle Grid Control.

Like many Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) whose management requirements extend beyond traditional data centers, MCI also benefits from Oracle Grid Control's high levels of automation and intelligence, which enables the company to consolidate management resources while managing various customer environments. Now MCI administrators can view all of the systems in operation in a single view, and more efficiently run diagnostics and tune their hardware, software and storage components.

"Managing increasingly complex IT environments has become daunting for many customers," said Glenn O'Donnell, program director at META Group, a leading provider of IT research, advisory services and strategic consulting. "Organizations want a simple, integrated solution that enables them to monitor their hardware and software from a single point. Simplified management not only eases administrative burdens, but also drives down overall IT costs."

About MCI Hosting Services

As a long-time leader delivering advanced hosting services, MCI offers a complete continuum of innovative managed hosting and Data Center services. MCI/Digex Enterprise Hosting holds more than 300 professional certifications from leading technology organizations like Microsoft, HP and Sun Microsystems and is compliant with SAS70 certified Type I and II. MCI Hosting is also positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in Gartner Inc.'s Web Hosting Magic Quadrant*. According to Gartner, Inc., leaders are vendors who are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.

About Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g - Grid Control
The Grid Control feature of Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g allows administrators to manage complex IT systems running a combination of Oracle and non-Oracle technologies. With a broad set of capabilities, the management software helps reduce the cost and complexity of managing business applications across grid computing environments. Oracle Grid Control offers deep diagnostics for multi-tier Internet applications, end-user performance and application service level management, and a comprehensive extensibility framework to manage custom applications and integrate with other management tools. These capabilities allow companies to optimize the performance of their systems, thereby enabling them to reduce systems management costs and increases service levels.

About MCI, Inc.
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.

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

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Trademarks
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*The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted October, 2004 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.