Atmosphere Networks Announces NEBS Compliance for Its FSN 1200 Certification is the Green Light for Sales Into New Market of CLECs Using RBOC Co-location Facilities.

Business Editors, High Tech Writers

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2000

Atmosphere Networks, the leader in providing the onramps to the high-speed optical network, today announced that its FSN 1200 Full Service Node passed all the tests necessary for NEBS (Network Equipment Building System) Level 3 compliance, the strictest level of compliance within the NEBS suite. NEBS compliance is a prerequisite for sales into RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Companies), other large telecommunications companies, and equipment co-location in these carriers' facilities.

"Atmosphere provides voice and data services on the optical network backbone while lowering costs up to 75 percent," says Rob Newman, CEO of Atmosphere Networks. "We've been delivering those benefits to CLECs that own their facilities. This certification means we can also bring these benefits to CLECs that are in co-location facilities, which effectively doubles the size of our market."

Atmosphere's business plan targets direct sales of the FSN 1200 into the CLEC market, and targets its channel sales through its partner Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC) into the Independent Operator Carriers (IOC) market. This expands the opportunities for both Atmosphere and AFC to address the needs of the new market of competitive carriers using RBOC co-location facilities.

The NEBS standard suite, issued by Telcordia Technologies (formerly Bellcore), attests to a telecommunications product's performance under stringent environmental, electrical and safety conditions.

"Achieving NEBS Level 3 compliance demonstrates that Atmosphere's FSN 1200 conforms to rigorous telecom industry standards for safe operation under specific temperature, humidity, altitude, fire, earthquake, lightning, vibration and other environmental conditions. It also shows that our product is fully compatible with standard telecom equipment," says Evan Petridis, vice president of engineering for Atmosphere Networks. "We're delighted to report that the robust design of Atmosphere's FSN 1200 facilitated the smooth and rapid completion of the test plan."

Telecommunication carriers use Telcordia's NEBS program to ensure that any equipment purchased for use in their facilities will operate safely and reliably under the specified environmental conditions, and that it will be compatible with existing phone equipment in the carriers' facilities.

About the FSN1200 Full Service Node

Atmosphere's FSN 1200 is the industry's first platform providing multiservice optical access and enabling the delivery of a diverse range of flexible services right to the doorsteps of enterprise business customers. The FSN 1200 innovatively blends SONET with an intelligent multiprotocol layer. As a result, carriers can replace SONET ADMs, 3/1/0 digital cross-connects and service access multiplexers with a single optical access platform that enables flexible packaging of voice and data services, uses less space, consumes less power and eliminates multiproduct management hassles. The FSN 1200 enables carriers to lower the cost of their overall network by up to 75 percent, while delivering flexible and intelligent voice/data service packages to their customers.

About Atmosphere Networks

Founded in 1997, Atmosphere Networks(TM) is the leading player in providing the onramps to the optical network all the way to the doorstep of enterprise customers. Atmosphere enables telecommunications carriers to take full advantage of optical networks' capacities and offer their customers the most flexible voice-and-data service packages. With Atmosphere, carriers can boost their competitiveness, revenues and market share while lowering their network costs by up to 75 percent, while enterprise customers can mix and match the voice, Internet and other data services they demand. The privately-held company is backed by Benchmark Capital, Foundation Capital, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Bowman Capital, Volpe Brown Whelan & Company and other venture firms with proven track records in funding successful networking companies. For more information on Atmosphere Networks, visit the Web site at www.atmospherenetworks.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Atmosphere Networks is a trademark of Atmosphere Networks, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners.