Broadwing Lights World's First Intelligent, All-Optical Switched Network; Speed, Capacity, Availability, and Efficiency Make Quantum Leaps Over `Legacy' Networks.

Business Editors, High Tech Writers

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WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2001

Today Broadwing Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Broadwing, Inc. (NYSE:BRW), unveiled its much anticipated intelligent, all-optical switched network, the first in the communications world. By switching light across the entire network backbone, without electrical regeneration, the 18,500 mile Broadwing network will operate at levels of capacity, speed, availability, and efficiency that dwarf the `legacy' networks operated by other providers.

During remarks delivered to the delegates of the World Economic Forum in Washington, DC, Broadwing president and CEO Rick Ellenberger described the revolutionary capabilities of the all-optical network and their impact for businesses, governments, and educational institutions.

"For too long, great ideas that have the power to change the way we live, work, learn and play, have been hampered from coming to market by constraints on bandwidth capacity and availability," said Ellenberger. "This first-of-its-kind network gives us the ability to offer bandwidth that is so flexible that it can best be described as `liquid;' which for customers means bandwidth that can be poured anywhere, anytime, in any amount, and billed only for what is used."

"One of the exceptional advantages of liquid bandwidth is that provisioning a circuit is a keyboard exercise rather than a labor intensive, hardware driven event," said Ellenberger. "For example, visualize having the bandwidth you need in minutes rather than months, by clicking a mouse instead of waiting for a technician."

Ellenberger offered several examples of the disruptive power of having bandwidth that is instantly available and billable on a per use basis, including the experience of a major cable network that used Broadwing's liquid bandwidth to immediately react to this year's historic presidential election and keep their viewers up-to-date, while keeping their costs in line.

"Completing this national network means Broadwing can begin delivering optical services that meet Fortune 500 customer demands for faster provisioning," said Brian Van Steen, optical networking analyst at RHK. "This is an important step that Broadwing has taken for implementing new technologies."

Additionally, the unique capabilities of Broadwing's intelligent all-optical switched network are attracting customers who are dissatisfied with today's current high-bandwidth options and are looking for a more reliable, economical, powerful solution.

"The market is moving to Broadwing," said Ellenberger. "Customers are realizing that much of the network construction promised by a host of wannabe providers will never materialize. And even the carriers who do have networks, still lack the capacity and systems for delivering bandwidth where, and more importantly, when customers want it," Ellenberger continued.

"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, strong financial position, and management strength and energy to deliver what we promise to our customers," said Ellenberger.

The power of the all-optical network is not just that it can carry today's data, internet, and voice traffic faster and more efficiently than today's legacy networks, but that it enables customers to use multimedia and content-rich applications as vital business drivers.

To put it into perspective, Broadwing's optical network has the capacity to enable:

-- 4,000,000 music lovers to simultaneously download an MP3 music file

-- 50,000 people to each download an eBook

-- 5,000 medical facilities to share different medical images

-- 4,000 virtual video streams create the largest virtual classroom in the
world

...all in less than ONE minute.

About Broadwing

Broadwing Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Broadwing Inc. (NYSE:BRW), is the world's first optical network service provider and combines unparalleled customer service with the most advanced and flexible 18,500 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 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.

BROADWING'S OPTICAL MILESTONES

-- June 2000 -- Broadwing completes industry's first all-optical

field trial with Corvis' network technology

-- June 2000 -- Broadwing first to announce plans for commercial

deployment of all-optical network

-- August 2000 -- Broadwing reinforces commitment to optical

networking with strategic partnership, equity position in

Corvis, the optical transmission component maker

-- August 2000 -- Broadwing is first communications service

provider to complete a field trial of an optical signal

traveling 10-gigabits per second without electrical

regeneration

-- September 2000 -- Broadwing strengthens commitment to optical,

with launch of industry's first all-optical network

interoperability lab

-- October 2000 -- Broadwing moves first operational traffic over

completed end-to-end optical route between Fort Worth and

Phoenix

-- October 2000 -- Broadwing take delivery of industry's first

all-optical switch from Corvis

-- December 2000 -- Broadwing builds on ramps to optical network

with deployment of CIENA CoreDirector Optical Switching

Systems to provide business customers a direct link to the

industry's first all-optical network

-- February 2001 -- Broadwing completes eastern optical ring

-- March 2001 -- Broadwing completes central optical ring

-- April 2001 -- Broadwing completes western optical ring and

national all-optical network

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