BellSouth Provides Innovative Solutions for Higher Education in South Carolina.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 2003

BellSouth Uses a Consultative Approach to Meet Specific Needs of

Colleges and Universities in South Carolina 

BellSouth announced today that it is meeting the needs of higher education customers in South Carolina through innovative solutions and a complete communications portfolio. In addition to serving both SMB (small and medium businesses) and enterprise customers throughout the Southeast, BellSouth focuses on several key vertical markets, including Education.

"By providing efficient and effective solutions for colleges and universities, BellSouth plays a key role in the communities of the Southeast," said Joan Kratz, vice president of marketing for BellSouth Business. "Communication tools that foster optimal administrative, teaching and learning environments directly impact the education levels of the students and faculty attracted to the schools as well as the graduates that emerge."

In addition to relying on BellSouth for local and long distance voice and Internet access services, Charleston Southern University is the first college or university to utilize the BellSouth(R) Managed Network VPN Service. The service allows off campus faculty, recruiters and administrative staff to have access to the same capabilities as on campus users. This facilitates the sharing of central files housed on the university's network by employees in various locations including homes, hotels and public or private Wi-Fi access points. The university also recently became the first in South Carolina to implement wireless Internet capabilities (managed by BellSouth) in all of its buildings, which allows convenient access capabilities for students with laptops.

"The BellSouth Managed Network VPN service provides efficient linkage of disparate access technologies used by employees at all locations, reducing IT management time for us," said Rusty Bruns, chief information officer, Charleston Southern University. "Network VPN and wireless Internet capabilities are examples of how Charleston Southern is strategically implementing technology that enables it to better facilitate the educational requirements of students."

Many South Carolina colleges and universities have been looking for one provider to meet their telecommunications needs. This type of consolidation allows educators to take advantage of BellSouth's dedicated account team to provide a single point of contact and one bill, while helping to reduce the operating expenses of the institutions with its industry-specific expertise.

Additional South Carolina colleges and universities benefiting from BellSouth's communications solutions include:

-- Allen University - By choosing BellSouth(R) Long Distance

service, the university will save approximately $54,000 over

three years on their total communications services and the

BellSouth Business Rewards program allows Allen to qualify for

additional discounts.

-- Voorhees College - BellSouth helped the college by

coordinating and managing a complete upgrade of its campus

local area network (LAN) infrastructure. The university is

utilizing the total solution to provide additional speed and

network security to its students and faculty. The solution

includes fiber and coaxial cable, Cisco Systems routing and

switching equipment, Cisco Systems firewall and intrusion

detection devices.

-- Claflin University - In order to meet growing voice needs, and

provide enhanced calling features to off-campus users,

BellSouth provided the university with a Nortel Network(a)

phone system, extensive wiring for the facilities, and a

BellSouth Centrex solution. BellSouth provides Internet

connectivity for all Claflin residence halls and the campus

wide infrastructure installed by BellSouth allows the school

to provide video lectures over IP throughout the campus. The

university also utilizes BellSouth(R) Long Distance service,

benefiting from the efficiency and convenience of having one

provider for local and long distance.

"With enhanced capabilities such as Network VPN, BellSouth Long Distance and professional services, BellSouth is well positioned to be the single source communications provider for universities in the Southeast," continued Kratz. "We are continually evaluating our services and developing strategic solutions that address specific educational needs."

For more information on BellSouth solutions for Education, visit:

http://www.bellsouth.com/business/index.html.

(a) Nortel Networks is a trademark of Nortel Networks.

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth serves more than 45 million local, long distance, Internet and wireless customers in the United States and 14 other countries.

Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full array of broadband data solutions to large, medium and small businesses. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and other services. BellSouth also offers long distance service throughout its markets, serving both business and residential customers. The company's BellSouth Answers(SM) package combines local and long distance service with an array of calling features; wireless data, voice and e-mail services; and high-speed DSL or dial-up Internet service. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(SM) and The Real Yellow Pages(R).

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