GTE Expands Internet Services In North Carolina's Research Triangle; Value-Added Internet Services Available

GTE Internetworking, a division of GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE) and one of the nation's leading providers of Internet access and value-added services for businesses, today announced the expansion of its Internet access service offerings with the opening of a new point of presence (POP) in Durham, N.C.

GTE's new POP provides businesses in the region with dedicated Internet
access via its high-speed, high-capacity, nationwide backbone. Additionally,
GTE assures customers of reliable, uninterrupted Internet services by
connecting businesses to a backbone rigorously engineered for mission-critical
applications. Backed by one of the most comprehensive guarantees in the
industry, GTE offers customers a service level guarantee focused on the
quality of performance, which encompasses reachability to other Web locations,
packet loss of less than 10 percent, and continuous network availability.

"The rapid growth of the Internet in Durham signifies the importance of the
Internet to local businesses," said Peter Giudici, Southeast Region Director,
GTE Internetworking. "By opening a POP in the Research Triangle, GTE can help
businesses here take advantage of the Internet as a business tool with the
confidence of knowing they can have fast, reliable, uninterrupted service."

Complimenting the opening of the Durham POP, GTE has close to 400 additional
POPs connecting major cities and business areas nationwide. These POPs
provide high-speed connections, including full T-3 and T-1, fractional T-3 and
T-1, Frame Relay and Multi-T1 services, to support high-volume Internet
traffic.

The new Durham POP is supported by the GTE Internetworking Network Operation
Center (NOC) located in Cambridge, Mass., and is fully supported by a
redundant NOC located in Columbia, Md. The NOC provides end-to-end network
monitoring and fault isolation, proactively seeks problem resolution, and
provides 24 x 7 trouble ticket and status reporting.

To support the delivery of its Internet service offerings, including its
enhanced IP services, GTE is currently constructing a new national
(coast-to-coast) 17,000-mile high-capacity data network. Upon completion
next year, GTE's high-speed, fiber backbone will connect more than 100 major
metropolitan markets.

About GTE Internetworking

GTE Internetworking, a unit of GTE Corporation (NYSE: GTE), includes the
former BBN Corporation, which almost 30 years ago developed the ARPANET,
the forerunner to today's Internet, and GTE Intelligent Network Services,
which provides Internet services to consumers and small businesses. With its
acquisition of Genuity, Inc. in December 1997, GTE Internetworking now has 12
global data centers and a unique load balancing technology for Web hosting.

GTE Internetworking offers customers, from consumers to Fortune 500 companies,
a full spectrum of integrated Internet services using IP networking
technologies. GTE Internetworking delivers complete network solutions,
including dial-up and dedicated Internet access, high-performance Web hosting,
managed Internet security, network management, systems integration, and
Web-based application development for integrating the Internet into business
operations. GTE Internetworking draws upon BBN's expertise in funded research
and development of advanced technologies, including satellites, digital radio,
multigigabit routers, security, speech, and GTE's strong existing
telecommunications services, including local and long distance, wireless,
paging, video and Internet. The address for GTE Internetworking's home page
is http://www.bbn.com.