2nd Century Names Industry Heavyweights to Board.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

2nd Century Communications, a leading network application service provider (ASP), today named industry leaders Mark Templeton, president, Citrix Systems, Inc.; Charles Skibo, chairman and CEO, COLO.COM; Michael Malaga, founder and chairman, NorthPoint Communications; and Gabe Battista, chairman and CEO, TALK.com, to its Board of Directors. These appointments round out the Board which currently includes 2nd Century's president and CEO John Prisco and top venture capitalists Peter Wagner, general partner at Accel Partners; Bill Geary, partner at North Bridge Venture Partners and David Hathaway, managing general partner at Venrock Associates.

"We are fortunate to have such a distinguished Board of valued advisors. These industry leaders join our Board with real world experience to help us drive this 2nd Century of communications," said John Prisco, president and CEO of 2nd Century. "As we move into the managed network arena and expand our product portfolio to include applications, these individuals will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to help us grow as the first network application service provider."

As president of Citrix, Mark Templeton helped propel the company into the technology and business spotlight and expanded operations across Europe, Latin America, Japan and the Asia/Pacific region. Templeton has also been instrumental in moving the company into the Internet market. Under Templeton's leadership, the company established an iBusiness unit focused on Web-based application deployment, and is playing a key role in the emerging Application Service Provider market. Prior to joining Citrix in 1995 as vice president of marketing, Templeton worked in various management positions at UB Networks, Keyfile Corporation and LANSystems.

Charles Skibo, a telecommunications industry veteran, joined COLO.COM in January 1999 as chairman and chief executive officer. Prior to COLO.COM, Skibo was involved in a variety of acquisitions, financing, and consulting within the telecom industry. Formerly, Skibo was president and CEO of US Sprint, where he merged US Telecom, GTE Sprint, and GTE Telenet to form US Sprint. While at Sprint, Skibo was involved in implementing 75% of the nation's first fiber optic network. Prior to US Sprint, Skibo was president of US Telecom, which merged into US Sprint. Before founding US Telecom, Skibo held several senior executive management roles at MCI.

Michael Malaga is the founder & chairman of NorthPoint Communications (Nasdaq:NPNT), a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) and global broadband services leader. Before co-founding NorthPoint, Malaga directed strategic development at MFS/WorldCom, now MCI WorldCom, Inc., where he managed the company's DSL product strategy. While at MFS/WorldCom, Malaga led project teams in engineering design, financial planning, business development, business data marketing, operations, provisioning and product rollout. Malaga was also charged with integrating the capabilities of UUNET, one of the world's largest Internet Service Providers, following MFS' acquisition of UUNET in 1996.

Gabe Battista joined TALK.com (Nasdaq:TALK) as chairman and chief executive officer in January 1999. As part of his plan, Mr. Battista initiated a turnaround strategy, repositioning and strengthening the company's core financial and operational divisions. Once completed, Mr. Battista focused on the long distance business and how to best optimize the current sales channel. He recognized the next wave for the telecom industry was to offer bundled services, transforming TALK into an integrated telecommunications provider, (ICP). Also under his leadership, J.D. Power and Associates recognized TALK.com for stellar customer satisfaction. Before joining TALK.com, Battista was the chief executive officer of Network Solutions Inc., an Internet domain name registration company. Prior to that, Battista served as the president and chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless, North America. His career also included senior management positions at US Sprint, GTE Telenet, and General Electric Information services.

About 2nd Century Communications

Headquartered in Arlington, Va., 2nd Century (www.2ndcentury.com) is a privately held, emerging communications company representing the intersection of networking and applications by providing small and medium businesses a complete package of business tools including high-speed Internet, desktop management solutions, self-healing software and voice applications. As a nationwide network application service provider (ASP), the company's network combines the flexibility of an Internet architecture with the reliability of a traditional voice network. 2nd Century provides a complete end-to-end solution that begins with broadband access and reaches all the way to the desktop with applications and proactive management support.

2nd Century Communications recently received the "Most Innovative Service" Award from Inter@ctive Week/Net Economy, a "Product of the Year" Award by Network Magazine and was named one of "10 Companies to Watch," by Network World.