Cambrian Communications Breaks Ground On First Metropolitan Area Network in Baltimore County.

Business Editors

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2001

Cambrian Focuses on Delivering High-Speed Broadband Access 

to Underserved Metropolitan Areas

Cambrian Communications, a wholesale metropolitan area network (MAN) provider, announced today that it has broken ground on its first local access ring in Baltimore County.

Through the build and ownership of its own local and long-haul network, Cambrian brings digital, all optical IP connectivity to emerging-growth metropolitan markets, like Baltimore County, where high-speed data access and transport are not widely available.

Cambrian meets the high-bandwidth needs of these underserved areas by building multiple-conduit, high-fiber broadband MANs utilizing the latest optical technology. Initial MANs will be built along Cambrian's fully redundant backbone connecting areas in and around New York City, Northern New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

"The amount of available bandwidth has dramatically increased through long-haul fiber builds and bandwidth utilization has increased through faster processing speeds on businesses' local area networks, but a problem exists in the middle," says Brian Oliver, Founder and CEO of Cambrian Communications. "Between the processing and the transport, data gets trapped or 'bottlenecked' in certain metropolitan areas because current networks were built to handle voice, not data, and they cannot support the increased demand. Cambrian breaks that bottleneck by providing end-to-end all-optical access, which links these areas with one another and with major cities."

Cambrian's network, which is expected to be operational by 4Q 2001, will offer Gigabit Ethernet solutions (100 Mgbps to 1 Ggbps), Optical Wavelength solutions (2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps), and Virtual Wavelength Solutions (DS-3 to OC-192), providing its wholesale customers with reliable, redundant, and fast cost-effective transport. Collocation services will also be offered.

"Our customers -- carriers, emerging service providers, and major private network owners -- want access, speed, reliability, and value," says Oliver. "With our advanced network and service offerings, Cambrian provides our customers with the bandwidth they need, when they need it. We truly can enable them to be successful from both a business and a customer satisfaction standpoint."

Cambrian's first MAN in Baltimore County (network map is available at: http://www.gilden.com/clientsight/cambrian/Maps_NbaltCnty.pdf) is a 46-mile network encompassing the areas of Hunt Valley, Cockeysville, Towson, Pikesville, and Owings Mills.

It will provide high-speed data access and transmission to and from numerous business parks and large enterprises, Verizon central offices, and multiple traffic aggregation points. Baltimore County is home to 19,000 businesses and more than 723,000 residents.

Cambrian Network is Cisco-Powered

Cambrian's network is being constructed as an end-to-end Cisco-based IP + Optical solution. The selection of Cisco demonstrates Cambrian's commitment to providing the highest quality services to its customers -- designed to be high-performance, customer-focused, reliable, and secure.

About Cambrian

Cambrian Communications, LLC, based in Fairfax, VA, is a metropolitan area network (MAN) provider delivering all-optical end-to-end network solutions to meet the complex wholesale communications needs of carriers, emerging service providers, and major private network owners.

Cambrian will construct and operate its initial MANs along its fully redundant backbone connecting New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Cambrian's management team has proven leadership experience with top communications companies and startups, both domestically and internationally.

Institutional investors in Cambrian include Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, LLC, and Dominion Telecom Partners. News and information are available at www.cambrian.net.