Conxion to Expand Global Hosting and Network Into Europe Through Strategic Agreement with Versatel Telecom.

Business Editors

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2000--

Acquisition of Versatel's SpeedPort N.V. Subsidiary Enables Conxion to

Deploy Managed Hosting Services Into Five Major European Markets

U.S.-based Internet infrastructure provider Conxion Corporation and European telecommunications provider Versatel Telecom International N.V. (NASDAQ:VRSA)(AEX:VRSA) today announced an important transaction and strategic relationship in which Conxion will acquire from Versatel its Internet subsidiary SpeedPort and will purchase European network services from Versatel. Versatel will obtain global Internet transit services from Conxion. This long-term partnership between Versatel and Conxion will result in revenue commitments from Conxion to Versatel for the provisioning of infrastructure services and revenue commitments from Versatel to Conxion for services for the next three years.

The relationship with Versatel marks the first phase of Conxion's expansion into international markets to offer managed hosting, connectivity and technical services to global companies. Conxion will quickly integrate the five-country European SpeedPort network and data centers with its own nationwide US backbone in order to create a fault-tolerant, transatlantic wide area network (WAN). With SpeedPort's assets, Conxion will add data center capacity for 10,000 servers in Europe by the end of the year. Conxion expects to have 100,000-server capacity by Q4 2001.

"This acquisition is a key element of our plan to be one of the four or five players with a global Internet backbone who can offer world-class hosting and network services," said Antonio Salerno, chairman and CEO of Conxion. "Versatel is an important fiber provider in Europe and savvy business ally, and we will become key customers for each other's services. This agreement provides us an integrated pan-European network along with SpeedPort's data centers and talented staff and management who really know the terrain for European hosting. We will accelerate the European market's move away from collocation services by quickly launching Conxion brand managed hosting services."

In the agreement, Versatel will provide Conxion with the ability to light fiber on demand across the Atlantic and within Europe at up to STM 16 (7.4 Gbps, bi-directional) fiber backbone capacity during the first year, with higher capacity available within the year thereafter. The fiber route and bandwidth build-out will provide SONET-protect, dual redundant connectivity between at least five European cities and the US by the end of 2000, which will bring the network up to Conxion's reliability standards.

Founded in 1998 with headquarters in Amsterdam, SpeedPort was acquired by Versatel in May 1999. SpeedPort provides IP connectivity, hosting and facilities management for customers including Internet service providers, new media enterprises and global corporations. It has leveraged Versatel's fiber to build-out a high-capacity IP backbone network, and currently operates data centers in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the UK.

"Our agreement with Conxion gives Versatel a strategic partnership with a Tier 1 U.S. IP network and provides us with a major new fiber customer for our international network," said Raj Raithatha, chief financial officer of Versatel. "We look forward to a long-term partnership with Conxion that will continue to grow as both companies expand internationally."

"This agreement will allow us to host downloads for our global ISV customers, like Microsoft, Symantec and Oracle, who've got to get their software into European hands," said Mr. Salerno. "Now we will be able to host applications with a low-latency response for our application service provider (ASP) customers, who want to deliver services over the Internet to European companies. Having a European presence also will open doors to European customers who need access to a global network for connectivity and sophisticated managed web hosting services as a step up from standard collocation services."

The agreement with Versatel gives Conxion rights to the equivalent of up to OC-48/STM-16 capacity in Europe, with available capacity increasing after the first year. In April 1999, Conxion announced an agreement for Tulsa-based Williams Communications to provide Conxion with up to OC-192/STM-64 (10 Gbps, bi-directional) fiber backbone capacity within the United States.

"There are only a handful of networks with this level of capacity," said Mr. Salerno. "We're working with other large networks around the world to build an integrated global capacity in order to support any customer, almost anywhere undertaking any level of project."

The phased agreements with both Williams Communications and Versatel enables Conxion to pay for network expansion based on business demand, while allowing it to expand at lightning speed.

(Certain statements in this Press Release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Versatel International NV only, and are subject to a number of risk factors and uncertainties, including but not limited to changes in technology and market requirements, decline in demand for the company's products or services, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and services, loss of market share, pressure on pricing resulting from competition, inability to maintain certain marketing and distribution arrangements, and construction delays, which could cause the actual results or performance of the company to differ materially from those described therein. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, refer to the Company's reports to be filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.)

About Versatel Telecom International N.V.

Versatel Telecom International N.V. (Nasdaq & AEX: VRSA) based in Amsterdam, is a rapidly growing, facilities-based, competitive local access broadband network operator focused on The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Founded in October 1995, the Company holds full telecommunications licenses in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and has over 42,500 business customers and 1,400 employees. Versatel is currently building a broadband network that will use the latest network technologies to provide business customers with high bandwidth voice, data and Internet services. In addition to the CLEC, Versatel group includes VersaPoint, a 50/50 joint venture with US-based NorthPoint (www.northpoint.net), which is building a pan-European high-speed DSL Internet access network and Versatel Internet Group, a concentration of consumer and business ISPs, portals, and hosting companies. Versatel is a publicly traded company on the Amsterdam Stock Exchanges and Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "VRSA". News and information are available at www.Versatel.com.

About Conxion

Conxion Corporation, www.conxion.com, is an integrated Internet infrastructure services provider leveraging its Tier-1 global network to offer fully managed hosting, transit and access services and FailSafeTM solutions for eBusiness. Headquartered in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara, Calif.), Conxion is helping a wide variety of global e-businesses bring their applications to the Web. Conxion's resources include a fully redundant, global Tier-1, all-IP network; 20 strategically located data centers in the US and Europe; Internet access; and expertise in security, high-performance hosting, and other managed services. Conxion is a privately held corporation.

Note to Editors: The Versatel brand is a registered trademark of Versatel Telecom International NV.

CONXION is a registered trademark, and the Conxion Logo and FailSafe are trademarks of Conxion Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.