WorldCom Announces MAE TORONTO - A New Internet Networks Traffic Exchange Facility in Toronto
JACKSON, MISS., (February 10, 1997) --
WorldCom, Inc. (WorldCom) today announced MAE TORONTO, the
company's newest and first Canadian Internet networks traffic
exchange facility. This new MAE service will facilitate the exchange
of traffic among national and regional Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) operating in Canada. WorldCom has signed commitments from
several ISPs and plans to begin offering services on February 15,
1997. The company, located at 151 Front Street West in downtown
Toronto, will initially offer 10 Mbps Ethernet connections to the MAE
site in Toronto. Higher speed connectivity is planned for later in
the year.
"The Internet is rapidly expanding across borders all over
the world," said Mark Gershien, senior vice president of
national accounts for WorldCom. "Our MAE services have been very
successful in the seven U.S. and two European cities where we offer
them. Several of our ISP customers have asked us to develop a similar
capability in eastern Canada. Toronto is a strategic market for us,
since it is the financial hub of Canada. Toronto also has a large
concentration of information-based businesses, which makes it a
natural site for a WorldCom Internet networks traffic exchange
facility."
WorldCom's MAE services play an important role in the Internet
by serving as central sites where ISPs connect to each other over
high-speed links and switches. ISPs use WorldCom's local
facilities to give their customers cost-effective, reliable,
high-speed access to information and systems located on the networks
of other ISPs. Since 1992, MFS, a division of WorldCom, has been
providing MAE services to ISPs. The company currently operates two
very large national MAE sites -- MAE EAST in Washington, D.C. and MAE
WEST in San Jose, CA. Smaller, regional MAE sites are located in New
York; Chicago; Los Angeles; Dallas; Houston; Paris, France; and
Frankfurt, Germany.
WorldCom is a leading provider of integrated long distance and
local telecommunications service, offering domestic and international
voice, data, Internet, and video products and services to business
customers, other carriers, and the residential market. The company
operates a nationwide digital fiber optic network in the United
States and has worldwide network capacity. Its World Wide Web address
is: http://www.wcom.com. The common and depositary shares of WorldCom
trade on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbols WCOM and WCOMP,
respectively.
