Broadwing's Rick Ellenberger Declares Emergence of World's First Optical Killer Platform.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 2000

Unique Combination of Vision, Assets, Execution to Enable

Disruptive Business Applications for Customers

Rick Ellenberger, president and CEO of next-generation communications provider Broadwing Inc. (NYSE:BRW), today discussed the emergence of the world's first optical `killer platform' at Banc of America Securities' Investor Conference held in San Francisco.

"The reality is that the constraints of bandwidth availability, provisioning intervals, protocol dependence, and storage capacity and retrieval, have kept customers from realizing the true potential of multimedia and rich content in their business applications," said Ellenberger. "Technology alone cannot address their concerns and unfetter customers from the limitations of legacy networks. It takes the right combination of vision, assets, and execution to produce a killer platform that enables disruptive applications and revolutionizes business models."

Ellenberger highlighted Broadwing's deployment of the world's first end-to-end fully optical network by the end of 2000 as the event that will provide customers with bandwidth that is `liquid' -- defined as infinitely scaleable, instantly available, and incrementally billable.

"When deployed by the end of this year, the Broadwing network will have the most capacity of any existing network," said Ellenberger. "Imagine every person in San Francisco able to simultaneously download an MP3 music file in less than one second."

Ellenberger pointed to the award-winning, 18,000 mile, next-generation, pure IP network that Broadwing built, owns and manages; their nine web hosting centers; their high-bandwidth applications incubator; leading back-office systems; and focus on customer service as additional crucial elements of the killer platform.

"While many companies are moving into the optical networking space, only Broadwing has both the strategy for taking customers from legacy to `lightwave' services and the full array of assets, talent, and management strength to deliver what we promise to our customers," said Ellenberger.

Ellenberger echoed the remarks of earlier presenters from Qwest and Level III in agreeing that fears of a bandwidth glut are misplaced.

"The beauty of the killer platform is not just that it can carry today's data, internet, and voice traffic faster and more efficiently, but that it enables customers to use multimedia and content-rich applications as vital business drivers," explained Ellenberger. "Bandwidth intensive applications like streaming media, multi-point video conferencing, collaborative file sharing, and content aggregation will fuel customers' appetites for ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth in the same way that more sophisticated and powerful desktop computer software fueled demand for increased processing power."

About Broadwing

Broadwing Inc. (NYSE:BRW) combines unparalleled customer service with the industry's most advanced and flexible 18,000 mile next-generation fiber optic network and award-winning IP backbone, to create data and Internet solutions that are innovative, reliable, and provide businesses a competitive advantage. Broadwing will be the first provider with a fully deployed optical network and sets the standard for customer accountability with the industry's only Installation Guarantee. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and Austin, Texas with 6,000 employees in 56 sales and service offices across the country, Broadwing can be found on the Web at www.broadwing.com.