AT&T announces network enhancements for next generation

June 6, 1995 -- BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--AT&T today announced an extensive set
of enhancements to its core network that includes Synchronous Optical
Network (SONET) transmission equipment, advanced dense wavelength division
multiplexing, an enhanced processor for the 4ESS(R) switch, and an
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) infrastructure for data services.

The network upgrade will provide customers with the reliability,
flexibility, and performance needed to deliver the next generation voice,
video, data, imaging and other multi-media applications of the future.

AT&T will initially use the upgraded infrastructure to deliver a new FASTAR
II network restoration capability. The original FASTAR. system, introduced
in 1992, was the industry's first broadly applied intelligent restoration
system. The FASTAR II restoration system is the next evolution in AT&T's
commitment to provide unprecedented levels of reliability and will further
improve the speed and flexibility of the proven FASTAR capability.

The intelligent mesh topology incorporated in the FASTAR II system will
provide a secondary layer of protection to respond to more complex network
disruptions. Using overlapping, self-healing rings, certain types of basic
network failures, such as simple cable cuts, will be restored in
milliseconds.

"Our customers tell us that we are the leader in network reliability and
this investment in the FASTAR II system will ensure that we continue to
provide the level of reliability that they have come to expect," said
Frank Ianna, vice president and general manager of AT&T Network Services
Division.

"Dependability will become more and more important as our customers
continue to blend communications services into the fabric of their
businesses." AT&T's network upgrade will employ a second generation of
SONET technology that incorporates dense wavelength division multiplexing
and optical amplification. Dense wavelength division multiplexing
transports eight colors of light down a single fiber optic strand that
enables each fiber to support a data rate of over 20 billion bits per
second, or over 312,000 simultaneous calls.

Optical amplifiers boost signals without first converting them to
electronic pulses. This dramatically simplifies a complex network
component and increases overall reliability.

Network capacity is further enhanced by a recent upgrade of the 4ESS
switches, the primary network switch. Already completed, this upgrade from
the 1A processor to the 1B processor more than doubled the number of calls
that each 4ESS can handle, from approximately 500,000 calls per hour to
more than one million calls per hour.

The 4ESS switch upgrade, one of the largest and most complex projects in
AT&T's history, was completed without any negative customer impact. AT&T
expects similar results with its implementation of the new FASTAR II
system. Installation of the FASTAR II system has started in Atlanta, the
Washington-Baltimore region, and the Sacramento-San Francisco area. The
upgrade will provide both business and government customers in these areas
with the flexibility and capacity they need for current and future
multimedia business applications.

The FASTAR II system will support AT&T communications services nationwide
by year end 1997. Basic self-healing SONET/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
technology is also being deployed on certain transoceanic fiber optic
routes to serve Europe and the Pacific Rim.

Concurrent with the introduction of the FASTAR II system, AT&T is
integrating ATM switching technology into its data communications network.
As a result of this integration, AT&T customers will benefit from
increased flexibility. By carrying frame relay, private line, and other
data services on this single ATM infrastructure, AT&T will continue to
support the seamless interconnection of its various data services, and
allow for a smooth integration of multiple services and the interworking
of both business and government customer data networks.

"By combining the FASTAR II system with our ATM data services
infrastructure, we will enable the seamless interworking of data services
and provide a more flexible, reliable, and dependable network," said
Robert Aquilina, vice president of AT&T Data Communications Services. "The
new network management systems supporting the single-service platform will
ensure efficient rapid provisioning of services and high availability of
customer applications while providing our customers with investment
protection, configuration flexibility, and the ability to control and
manage their own networks." AT&T will use existing services like ACCUNET.
T155 service, which was the first generally available SONET OC-3 service,
and InterSpan. ATM service to meet the needs of any leading edge customers
with specialized application requirements.

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