BBN to provide Internet connection for new Massachusetts public access services.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 1995--BBN Internet Services Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. (NYSE:BBN), today announced that it has been selected to provide the Internet connection for the Massachusetts Access to Government Network (MAGNet) public access services being established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"This is the Commonwealth's first major, multi-agency foray into public access services on the Information Superhighway. We view it as an extremely cost-effective method of getting information to citizens and businesses alike," said John Thomas Flynn, chief information officer of the State of Massachusetts.

BBN Internet Services Corp. was selected through a competitive bidding process to provide state employees on the MAGNet, the statewide, high-speed communications infrastructure, with Internet access, and for the general public to access World Wide Web services known as MAGIS (Massachusetts Access to Government Information Service). In addition, BBN will provide training for state employees and consulting services to the state on setting up its MAGNet backbone network and its MAGIS services.

"Our first public access will be available through the new Massachusetts Access to Government Information Service. Through MAGIS, we're presenting one face of state government to all people," said Flynn. "We'll put everything you can think of up on the Internet to give people the ability to obtain information and learn how to do things, such as apply for a permit, easily. Our eventual goal is to give residents and businesses alike the ability to interact and transact business with their state government."

"Massachusetts is one of the nation's centers for telecommunications, with many of the industry's leading vendors, excellent universities, and advocacy groups such as the Mass. Telecommunications Council," said Paul R. Gudonis, CEO of BBN Internet Services Corp. "We're delighted to help the Commonwealth of Massachusetts open for business on the Information Superhighway by tapping the resources of the Internet to help broaden the public's electronic access to information."

Through MAGIS, a component of MAGNet, people will be able to access a wealth of state government information from a variety of offices and agencies, whose private networks will be linked under the MAGNet umbrella. MAGNet will include the 50,000 desktop computers of the state's information workers; public access from an estimated 2,500 locations in the state's library system, schools and kiosks; more than 5,000 domestic customers; 300,000 potential business clients and an estimated 2,000 municipal employees in cities, towns and counties. Initial public information on MAGIS will include Governor William Weld's fiscal year 1996 budget proposal, the Governor's inaugural address, a State Contracts Index, business and industry resources, research and educational information, the Kid's Commonwealth, Local Services Information, the Vendor Handbook, and more.

Initial MAGIS offerings were developed jointly by information providers including the Department of Procurement and General Services, the Department of Revenue, the Mass. Office of Business Development, the Office for Travel and Tourism, the Office of the Governor, the Executive Office of Communities and Development, the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs, and the Board of Library Commissioners. Technical and coordination services were provided by the Office of Management Information Systems and the UMASS Office of the President.

BBN Internet Services Corp. will display its Internet capabilities in Booth No. 1417 at Networks Expo '95 Boston, February 14-16, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

BBN Internet Services Corporation, a subsidiary of Bolt Beranek and Newman, is a leading provider of managed Internet access and value-added services. More than 600 leading businesses, research, university, and medical facilities in the Northeast and the San Francisco Bay area connect to the Internet via BBN's NEARNET and BARRNET operations. BBN's Internet services include managed security services, around the clock network operations, end-to-end problem resolution, a comprehensive problem tracking system, backbone management and ongoing configuration management services. For its fiscal year ended June 30, 1994, BBN had revenue of $196 million.

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Note to editors: NEARNET and BARRNET are service marks of BBN Internet Services Corp.

CONTACT: BBN Internet Services Corporation

Brenda Nichols, 508/369-2100, Fax: [phone]

Internet: [e-mail]