UUNET TO DELIVER FAST INTERNET SERVICES FOR BUSINESS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

UUNET, an MCI WorldCom company and a global leader in Internet communications solutions, is expanding its network by installing an Internet hub in Northern Ireland. Part of a multi-million pound investment by UUNET into UK regions, the new hub will initially provide a 4 Mbps (megabits per second) capacity, which will be upgraded to 16Mbps subject to customer demand, enabling users, expected to be primarily business customers, in the area to transport more data across the Internet faster. The new hub, will be hosted by Supplier Index, a leader in e-commerce and electronic data management. The company has also signed an agreement to become resellers for UUNET in Ireland. Supplier Index works to take product information from local small to medium sized enterprises and turn it into an electronic format for e-commerce and facilitate business to business electronic trade with governments and commercial bodies.

The hub will meet the rapidly growing demand of businesses in Northern Ireland for higher capacity Internet access by providing faster connection to the UUNET international network ­ the world¹s most reliable and rigorously engineered. The continuing growth of commercial transactions and other business activities over the Internet will require the availability of high capacity network access. UUNET¹s new hub is connected directly to UUNET¹s network in the UK, currently operating at 155Mbps. Connections from this backbone to the US are currently 535 Mbps and into Europe at an aggregate of 567 Mbps.

UUNET investment will provide businesses in Northern Ireland with the scope for expansion. Many enterprises start Internet business with a dial up connection but develop to use leased or fixed lines. These provide higher capacity, 24-hour a day services and suit typical corporate internal LANs (networks).

Richard Heyes, UK managing director, UUNET said: "Northern Ireland is a major growth area in terms of the economy, with increasing business investment in the region. To develop and maintain new sources of wealth, creation and competitiveness in global markets, all sectors of the local economy must be allowed to benefit from a reliable and rapid Internet connection. UUNET is working to ensure that Ireland has the right Internet infrastructure and high-speed connectivity to take advantage of these new business opportunities."

"This installation means that local businesses will be able to make greater use of the Internet to streamline working practices. Enterprises can now benefit from improved communication and information sharing via email, file transfers and interactive World Wide Web sites. We are delighted to be involved in this deal and to be able to bring enterprise strength Internet access to Northern Ireland," said George Shaw of Supplier Index.

Technical Details
UUNET is installing its new Belfast hub, with twin high bandwidth 2 Mbps data links to the UUNET network. Twin lines are being installed to add resilience and these lines will be upgraded to twin 8 Mbps data links in line with demand.

This is part of the company¹s overall investment in its network worldwide. This includes a ten-fold increase over the past year in its US to UK capacity (from 45Mbps to a total of 645Mbps) and a seven-fold increase, over the past six months, in the size of its European network (from 400Mbps to 3000Mbps aggregated). During the same period, UUNET also increased its London to Europe capacity by over 350% (from 159Mbps to 567 Mbps). Within the UK the core backbone operates at 155Mbps with local PoPs between four and 155 Mbps continuously upgraded ahead of demand. Additional network infrastructure has also been deployed in the Asia Pacific region.

By implementing these increases, UUNET aims to continue to develop the most reliable, widely deployed Internet network. In Europe, this network now provides direct connections to London from Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Monaco, Milan, Stockholm and Zurich. Further increases to the overall capacity are planned for the future.