Cox Communications Chooses Atmosphere Networks to Deliver Breakthrough Services Over Optical Access Network.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000

Atmosphere's FSN 1200 is a Key Ingredient to

Cox's Successful Push Into the Education Market

Atmosphere Networks, the leading provider of onramps to the high-speed optical network, announced today that it has joined with Cox Communications, a leading telecommunications provider, to deliver advanced data and telecommunications solutions to the St. Bernard Parish School District in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Cox/Atmosphere solution connects the district's 17 schools to each other and the district's administration headquarters, as well as to the outside world, for phone, high-speed local area network (LAN) interconnection and Internet access and closed-circuit television services over a service-aware SONET network.

"With Atmosphere's solution forming the basis for the St. Bernard network, we gained the ability to create agile and smart service offerings to satisfy the school district's growing needs and to do it quickly and inexpensively," said Bill Ironside, general manager of Cox Business Services. "This solution supports the overall Cox mandate to use leading-edge technology to create innovations in education. We are delivering to the St. Bernard Parish School District a set of services that gives both teachers and students dramatically improved access to educational materials on the Internet."

"Cox recognizes that in today's competitive telecommunications landscape, carriers need to provide value-added services, not simply pipes. This recognition led to our decision to team with Atmosphere," says Bridget Duff, Cox's director of large accounts. "Working with Atmosphere, we were able to be more responsive to the district's needs today and provide a better network platform to handle."

Atmosphere Gives Cox the Winning Edge

The school district's network is unique in that it provides switching intelligence at every school location, with SONET reliability. The packet switching intelligence means that in addition to traditional voice services, students can get dedicated multimegabit access to the Internet, while teachers can pass school administration information securely between locations; all over the same physical network interface.

The St. Bernard School District installation was funded in part by the FCC's Universal Service Order, also referred to as the E-Rate program. The E-Rate program provides up to $2.25 billion annually to ensure that all eligible schools and libraries have affordable access to modern telecommunications and information services.

"We focus on developing the best possible technology, enabling our carriers to offer leading-edge services to their subscribers," says Rob Newman, chief executive officer of Atmosphere Networks. "It is truly rewarding for us to see how our technology is used in real-world operations, and how children, schools and libraries nationwide can benefit from today's telecommunications' solutions."

About the FSN 1200 Full Service Node

Atmosphere's FSN 1200 is the industry's first platform providing multiservice optical access and enabling the delivery of a diverse range of flexible services right to the doorsteps of enterprise business customers. The FSN 1200 innovatively blends SONET with an intelligent multiprotocol layer. As a result, carriers can replace SONET ADMs, 3/1/0 digital cross-connects and service access multiplexers with a single optical access platform that enables flexible packaging of voice and data services, uses less space, consumes less power and eliminates multiproduct management hassles. The FSN 1200 enables carriers to lower the cost of their overall network by up to 75 percent, while delivering flexible and intelligent voice/data service packages to their customers.

About Cox Communications

Cox Communications, Inc. serves approximately 6 million customers nationwide, making it the nation's fifth largest cable television company. A full-service provider of telecommunications products, Cox offers an array of services, including cable television under the Cox Cable brand; local and long distance telephone services under the Cox Digital Telephone brand; high-speed Internet access under the brands Cox@Home, Road Runner and Cox Express; advanced digital video programming services under the Cox Digital Cable brand; and commercial voice and data services via Cox Business Services. Cox is an investor in telecommunications companies including Sprint PCS and Excite@Home, as well as programming networks including Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Outdoor Life and Speedvision. More information about Cox Communications can be accessed on the Internet at www.cox.com.

About Atmosphere Networks

Founded in 1997, Atmosphere Networks is the leading player in providing the onramps to the optical network all the way to the doorstep of enterprise customers. Atmosphere enables telecommunications carriers to take full advantage of optical networks' capacities and offer their customers the most flexible voice-and-data service packages. With Atmosphere, carriers can boost their competitiveness, revenue and market share while lowering their network costs by up to 75 percent, while enterprise customers can mix and match the voice, Internet and other data services they demand. The privately held company is backed by Benchmark Capital, Foundation Capital, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Bowman Capital, Volpe Brown Whelan & Company and other venture firms with proven track records in funding successful networking companies. For more information on Atmosphere Networks, visit the web site at www.atmospherenetworks.com.

Atmosphere Networks is a trademark of Atmosphere Networks, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners.