BellSouth Harnesses the Power of Voice Over IP; Fortifying e-Platform Evolution; IBM and Cisco Systems Connections Provide Integrated Network Solutions.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 2001

SuperComm--BellSouth (NYSE:BLS) today announced it is maximizing the power of Voice Over IP (VoIP), allowing customers to streamline communications by implementing Internet protocol based solutions.

Embracing VoIP telephony reinforces BellSouth's commitment to aggressively build an innovative, state-of-the-art e-Platform. BellSouth is staking claim to the VoIP market, providing companies with a national presence solutions that integrate multiple technologies and enhance inter-networking strategies.

BellSouth offers customers a platform that allows businesses to build a bridge between current solutions and the next generation of network enhancements. International market researchers Frost and Sullivan, estimate the worldwide IP equipment market will grow at 100 percent for the next four years, reaching $7 billion by the year 2004. Utilizing innovative packet switching technologies, BellSouth offers customers end-to-end VoIP solutions that enable companies to evolve with the e-business economy.

Through BellSouth's strategic relationships with Cisco Systems and IBM, BellSouth is deploying VoIP both within and outside its nine-state region. Cisco provides the Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID), the architecture from which businesses can build expansive VoIP networks. IBM's systems integration, training and support expertise in deploying Cisco's products for customers requiring complex data networking allows BellSouth to provide a broader array of professional services.

"The relationship with BellSouth, Cisco, and IBM is a perfect example of three industry leaders working together to provide customers with new BellSouth product offerings such as IP telephony," said Cindy Hamrin, vice president of BellSouth data product management. "By working together, we're extending this new BellSouth product offering, and supporting professional services to BellSouth customers across the country via IBM's professional services support."

The Cisco and IBM relationships reinforce BellSouth's network transformation and data expansion initiatives. Using BellSouth's expansive network, Cisco's leading integration equipment and IBM's deployment expertise, BellSouth allows companies to converge voice, video, data and IP telephony onto a single network.

Cisco AVVID is the enterprise architecture that provides the intelligent network infrastructure for today's Internet business solutions. As a leading enterprise-wide, standards-based network architecture, Cisco AVVID provides the roadmap for combining customers' business and technology strategies into one cohesive model. BellSouth business customers can now integrate Voice over IP at the desktop, Wide Area Network (WAN), Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and video technologies to create a comprehensive, flexible network solution. Combining the network infrastructure and services with next generation applications, Cisco AVVID accelerates the integration of technology strategy with business vision to create competitive advantage for companies. BellSouth's relationship with Cisco packages the network functionality and premise equipment necessary for customers to launch VoIP telephony using Cisco AVVID.

"We are excited about the opportunity to work together with BellSouth and IBM to further expand the market for IP telephony and Cisco AVVID," said Bill Erdman, director of marketing for Cisco's Enterprise Voice Business Unit. "Cisco's IP telephony solutions give service providers like BellSouth the ability to make a broad range of e-business solutions available to their customers. The customers benefit from significant increases in employee productivity and reductions in operational costs that are the by products of using a converged voice, video and data network."

IBM is providing implementation and support expertise for BellSouth customers who choose Cisco AVVID solutions. Customers that are located within BellSouth's nine-state region, and have a nationwide presence, can now benefit from working with three industry leaders. BellSouth remains the single point of contact for its customers to answer questions and quickly resolve any issues that might arise.

IBM provides a full range of planning, design, implementation and operations services to BellSouth customers that are custom designed to match the customers needs for their unique data application for Cisco AVVID installations as well as requirements for other enhanced applications. IBM's proven methodologies and implementation tools help expand the reach of BellSouth's commitment to the future of their customers.

"BellSouth's voice networking expertise and IBM's data networking expertise will enable customers to transform their companies to dynamic e-businesses starting today. They can begin to realize the true value of e-business based on Web applications, electronic transactions, and integration of rich content solutions across their enterprise," said Catherine Lewis, IBM Global Services.

The BellSouth(R) e-Business Centers also have been designated as "Cisco-Powered Network," centers. The Cisco Powered Network program is a joint marketing agreement between Cisco and a select group of service providers who provision end-to-end solutions with Cisco equipment. Cisco and BellSouth will work together on co-marketing, lead generation and technology information exchange activities to accelerate the success of the e-Business Center services.

The Cisco Powered Network(TM) program includes a rigorous list of criteria that BellSouth successfully completed before acceptance in the program including maintaining high levels of network and service quality and building services based on Cisco equipment. BellSouth customers experience higher network availability; reliable, scalable and secure services; and faster deployment of new or additional network services with an end-to-end Cisco-based networking solution. BellSouth e-Business Centers, located in Miami and Atlanta, each comprise more than 100,000 square-feet of space in Category 5, financial grade facilities. These centers support a broad spectrum of e-business applications and services in secure locations, and extend BellSouth's existing network capabilities and historical strengths in reliability, real-time availability and customer service to support today's growing Web-based economy.

BellSouth's e-Platform initiative includes state-of-the-art e-Business Centers complemented by 3.6 million miles of fiber optic cable, 1,650 central offices, 50 BellSouth Managed Facilities, 17,000 SONET rings and over 500 fast-packet switches to create a distributed e-business platform. With broadband connectivity provided by the BellSouth e-Platform, business customers get the advantage of reduced latency, better performance, continuous availability, improved caching, greater bandwidth and speed, and closer proximity to their end-users -- transforming the communications network of today into a sophisticated, e-business-enabled platform. BellSouth's e-Business Centers have attained industry accreditation including Sun Microsystems' SunToneSM Certification, IBM's Hosting Advantage certificate and designation as a Cisco Powered Network. For more information, visit www.bellsouth.com/ebiz/.

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, serving more than 45 million customers in the United States and 16 other countries.

Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full array of broadband data and e-commerce solutions to business customers, including Web hosting and other Internet services. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and other services. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services, including BellSouth(R) RealPagesSM.com.

BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company, which provides innovative wireless data and voice services.