MCI WorldCom Enhances Multicast Service To Expand Internet Broadcasting Capabilities For Business Customers

UUNET Works With Bloomberg As One of First Customers to Utilize Next Phase of UUcast Service FAIRFAX, Va., April 6, 1999-UUNET, the Internet services division of MCI WorldCom and a global leader in Internet communications solutions, today announced the next phase of development for its IP multicast-based service, UUcast

^SM . Commercially available since October 1997, UUcast has enabled content providers to transmit and efficiently distribute content over the Internet through the cost-effective, efficient means of multicast technology, reaching all of UUNET's domestic dial access users. The second phase of the UUcast service, which will be commercially available in June of 1999, will enable businesses to send content beyond UUNET's dial access network, to U.S. end-users who connect through dedicated services, such as T-1s, T-3s and OC-3s. UUcast will also enable business customers to create private multicast networks so that content will reach their end-users via UUNET's dedicated Internet connections.

This announcement marks one of the broadest deployments of multicast-based services for both dial-up and dedicated access users. To date, UUNET has enabled the more than 500,000 dial-up ports in its U.S. network to support UUcast and with this announcement allows its dedicated access customers to receive UUcast content as well.

"Extending the reach of multicast technology to dedicated users opens new opportunities for business customers to send audio, video and other content over the Internet at a fraction of the cost of traditional unicast technology," said Ralph Montfort, director of dedicated access product marketing at UUNET. "We are working to ensure that the benefits of UUcast are not just limited to large Internet content providers who are looking to reach very broad audiences through dial-up networks. Business customers will also be able to send streamed content, including paid-for information, corporate videos, executive speeches and training materials, to employees or other users of their dedicated networks."

The Advantages of Multicast Technology for Dial and Dedicated Connections
UUcast enables information providers to simultaneously reach hundreds of thousands of users via a single transmitted stream of information. The technology reduces the amount of access bandwidth that content providers need to reach large numbers of Internet users with streamed content, offering significant cost reductions compared to the cost of traditional unicast services. Instead of sending 100 streams of information to reach 100 users as is the case with unicast technology, a content provider sends only one stream of audio, video or text content, which UUNET then delivers to hundreds of thousands of dial and dedicated users via multicast routers in the UUNET network.

Bloomberg L.P., one of the world's leading providers of financial news and information, is one of the first customers to test the enhanced UUcast service, which will enable the company to send audio, video and text multicasts to select sets of dedicated end-users. "Multicast technology will enable us to expand our reach with a dramatically improved cost structure," said Jonathan Fram, General Manager of New Media at Bloomberg. "With UUcast, we can provide broadcast-based content to our professional and consumer markets over the Internet. It's a natural progression for us."

IETF Multicast Protocols
UUcast was the first commercial quality deployment of standards-based IP multicast technology. Because it is a standards-based service, UUcast allows customers to select from a wide variety of multicast streaming products to meet their specific needs.

UUNET worked closely within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to further the development of multicast standards, such as Sparse-Mode Protocol-Independent Multicast (PIM), and has continued that work to develop the latest protocols, Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) and Multi-Protocol Extensions for Border Gateway Protocol (MBGP). The MSDP and MBGP protocols enable multicast traffic to flow between private Internet networks in a scalable manner. These standards are essential to enable interdomain multicast routing for more reliable and robust multicast networks.

New Multicast Stream Size Capabilities
UUNET offers multicast streams in a variety of sizes, ranging from 5 Kbps to 128 Kbps for dial-up, and starting in June of 1999, UUNET will offer new stream sizes for dedicated connections, including 200 Kbps, 400 Kbps, 550 Kbps, 800 Kbps, 1.3 Mbps, and 1.5 Mbps. Low-bandwidth streams work well for applications such as ticker information or "datacasting" while audio and video applications use streams of 25 Kbps and above. Higher stream sizes are used for business-intensive content, such as financial information and distance learning applications.

Pricing and Availability
This new generation of the UUcast service will be commercially available in the United States in June of 1999. Prices for sourcing high-speed content to dedicated receivers will begin at $20,000/month. Prices for sourcing high-speed content to dial-up receivers begin at $900/month. More information can be found at www.uu.net.