Cincinnati Bell deploys Fujitsu technology to increase competitive edge; FACTR platform will enhance service reliability and extend reach of fiber-optic services.

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 1996--In a move aimed at increasing its market superiority in the face of a changing telecommunications environment, Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co. will deploy the Fujitsu Access/Transport (FACTR(R)) platform to extend its standards-based fiber-optic network, add enhanced services and features, and improve service reliability.

The advanced capabilities the FACTR system provides will enable Cincinnati Bell to raise the competitive benchmark for local service standards.

The FACTR platform, which combines access and synchronous optical network (SONET) transport into a single system, positions Cincinnati Bell to bring the reliability benefits offered by SONET much closer to business and residential customers. The FACTR system will provide integrated local area network (LAN) interconnection, cell relay and enhanced business and residential services more cost-efficiently.

The first FACTR systems will be deployed in Cincinnati's western suburbs and northern Kentucky early this year. The FACTR platform eventually will be installed throughout Cincinnati Bell's network, which supports more than 900,000 access lines in Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana.

"With competition increasing, it's paramount that Cincinnati Bell be able to offer its customers the most advanced voice and data services available," said Patrick Walsh, planning specialist of Cincinnati Bell's Network Architecture Planning organization. "This deployment of the FACTR platform makes Cincinnati Bell more attractive to customers in terms of service sophistication, quality and reliability."

Cincinnati Bell, with a network of six major SONET rings, is the largest independent North American telephone company to choose FACTR as its universal access platform. Cincinnati Bell initially will install the FACTR narrowband for enhanced services to residential and small business customers.

Cincinnati Bell also will deploy the FACTR common shelf configuration as a SONET network element to support OC-3 (155 megabits per second) and OC-12 (622 Mbps) transport for customized business service. Cincinnati Bell also will install the FACTR narrowband system for customized business services.

"One of the key strengths of the FACTR platform is its flexibility," said George Chase, Fujitsu's senior vice president of sales and marketing. "The FACTR system will support both the narrowband residential and broadband business services prevalent today, as well as emerging broadband services on the same platform.

"The cost-savings and time-to-market ramifications associated with these migration capabilities make the FACTR system an ideal platform in today's highly competitive markets."

Fujitsu Network Transmission Systems Inc., with headquarters in Richardson, is a leader in developing, manufacturing and marketing fiber optic networking platforms for delivering voice, data and video services to both residential and business users. The company also develops software that allows customers to perform in-service management and monitoring of the network.

Customers include local exchange carriers, interchange carriers, competitive access providers and cable TV operators, as well as large private networks in North America. Fujitsu Network Transmission Systems is part of Fujitsu Limited, a $36 billion global technology leader in computers, telecommunications and microelectronics.

CONTACT: Fujitsu Network Transmission Systems Inc., Richardson

Greg Wortman, 214/479-7726

E-mail: [e-mail]

or

Cincinnati Bell Telephone

Richard Hammersmith, 513/397-1050

or

MCCommunications Inc., Dallas

Jolie Newman, 214/480-8383

E-mail: [e-mail]