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SBC Communications Expands Portfolio of High-Bandwidth Solutions to Better Serve Enterprise Customers

Posted on: Thursday, 11 December 2003, 06:00 CST

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2003--

New Metro Optical Networking Offerings Include Switched Ethernet,

Enhanced Storage Area Networking and Gigabit Ethernet Services

SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) today announced a major expansion of its metropolitan optical networking portfolio, furthering the company's national data strategy targeting enterprise customers. The new services provide greater choice and flexibility for business customers seeking high-bandwidth networking with fully managed service options.

With regulatory approval to offer long distance services in all 50 states, the company is now able to match its powerful metropolitan area networks in conjunction with nationwide data and IP connectivity, allowing SBC companies to provide complete networking solutions, covering both local and long distance services.

The new portfolio, part of the ongoing SBC effort to deliver powerful service options and new competitive choices to the enterprise business market, includes updates in three key areas: enhanced Ethernet offerings, expanded storage networking services, and expanded managed services options.

The services leverage the SBC companies' powerful metropolitan fiber-optic networks while building the foundation for robust corporate wide-area networking solutions. The portfolio is designed for medium and large-sized enterprises, as well as government, education and medical organizations that need substantial network bandwidth in metropolitan areas, delivered with the highest available levels of reliability and service quality, at speeds ranging up to 160 Gigabits per second.

"We are committed to continually improving the way we serve our medium and large enterprise customers and these new offerings give us a strong portfolio to compete in the national market for enterprise IT services," said Bob Walters, SBC executive director -- optical networking. "These offerings, which represent the latest advancements in optical networking technology, give our customers more reliable and cost- effective means to transport and store data, without the added cost of building and maintaining the networks."

Enhanced Ethernet Services

The launch today of the OPT-E-MAN(SM) service provides customers with the flexibility of a switched metro Ethernet solution, which can deliver the look and feel of a single network across multiple branch offices in a metropolitan area. Initially available in 14 markets, the OPT-E-MAN service will be a carrier-class switched metro Ethernet service offered at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

SBC companies today announce the enhancement of the popular GigaMAN(R) service offering. The GigaMAN service, a point-to-point Ethernet solution, is now more robust, scalable and reliable. The enhanced service also extends distance capabilities and adds diversity and interface options.

Customers using SONET services can now benefit from the expansion of Ethernet over SONET technology, which is offered at interface speeds of 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps. Ethernet over SONET allows customers to enjoy the benefits of the highly reliable SONET offering while benefiting from the cost advantages and efficiencies of the Ethernet protocol.

Expanded Storage Networking Services

Customers needing a highly-reliable, dedicated storage networking solution will be served by the new FibreMAN(SM) service. The FibreMAN service is a fully-managed, point-to-point offering that enables customers to rapidly transfer important high-volume data to and from off-site storage facilities, such as an Internet data center, at speeds of 1 or 2 Gbps using the Fibre Channel protocol. The FibreMAN service will be available across the traditional 13-state SBC territory.

For customers that use other protocols in addition to Fibre Channel or Gigabit Ethernet, such as FICON or ESCON, to transmit data to and from a data center, the SBC Multi-Service Optical Networking (MON) offering is available, and now includes customer network management capabilities. MON is a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) solution that allows customers to transmit multiple protocols over a single connection. This ring architecture is highly reliable and redundant, making it ideal for high-speed transmission of any business-critical information, as well as disaster recovery and business continuity applications and mirroring data.

Extended Managed Services Options

All of the services extend the SBC PremierSERV(SM) managed services portfolio, which offers businesses the opportunity to outsource every element of their communications needs -- from network equipment, to transport, to ongoing network management.

SBC PremierSERV offerings provide design, delivery and ongoing management options for a full range of telecommunications services - local, long distance, Internet, data transport, equipment and eServices. With SBC PremierSERV managed services, SBC technical experts actively manage and monitor a customer's network and services 24x7x365, to ensure the highest levels of reliability, availability and efficiency. Services are offered with competitive Service Level Agreements.

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is one of the world's leading data, voice and Internet services providers. Through its world-class networks, SBC companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, as well as directory advertising and publishing. A Fortune 30 company, SBC Communications is America's leading provider of high-speed DSL Internet Access services and one of the nation's leading Internet Service Providers. SBC companies currently serve 55 million access lines nationwide. In addition, SBC companies own 60 percent of America's second-largest wireless company, Cingular Wireless, which serves more than 23 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC companies have telecommunications investments in 26 countries.

SBC, the SBC logo and other product names are trademarks of SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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