AT&T and Disney to build high tech community of the future

July 26, 1995 -- BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- Residents of Celebration, Fla., a
planned 4,900 acre community being developed by The Celebration Company, a
subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, will soon be cruising an AT&T test
track on the information superhighway, participating in a "living
laboratory" designed to help futurists understand how people adapt to
emerging high technology products and services.

As a featured supplier to The Celebration Company, AT&T Solutions plans to
provide Celebration's residents with new and innovative consumer products
and services; and intends to also deliver the broadband network
infrastructure that will integrate and deliver all voice, video and data
services throughout the community.

Through the envisioned network, people will be interconnected seamlessly
with information in homes, schools, businesses and government offices.
Plans call for residents to be able to access a variety of on-line
interactive services such as shopping, banking, and community information,
allowing them easy access to each other, and the information and services
they want anytime, anywhere.

"The promise of the information superhighway is that anyone can have any
information they want instantly," said Alf Andreassen, AT&T Solutions
client partner. "The Celebration community could serve as a model that
community developers will embrace and improve upon in residential and
business environments worldwide."

When completed, the Celebration Network is envisioned to be a
comprehensive, digital, fiber-to-the-curb optical network providing voice,
data and video communication throughout the community. Plans call for the
centerpiece of this infrastructure to be an AT&T SLC-2000 Access System
with FLX Switched Digital Video. The system, a joint development between
AT&T Network Systems and BroadBand Technologies Inc., is planned to enable
Celebration subscribers to obtain services ranging from standard telephone
service to full motion, high-definition digital interactive multimedia
services.

"An alliance was struck with AT&T because of the company's high product
quality, and commitment to building virtual electronic communities," said
Charles Adams, director of community business development for The
Celebration Company.

The network recently began serving Celebration Place, the business park of
the community, in April 1995. Residential service is planned to begin with
the completion of the first Celebration home. AT&T also plans to make
state-of-the-art consumer products and services available for purchase to
all Celebration residents. Through product and services contributed by
AT&T, the first 300 Celebration families will have the option of becoming
voluntary participants in a "living laboratory."

AT&T researchers plan to analyze and evaluate consumer attitudes and
behavioral data concerning proposed products and services, applying the
results to future consumer offerings.

Participating families will be provided with an array of new and enhanced
products and services featuring easy-to-use technology for a variety of
lifestyles. AT&T contributions could range from a product such as the AT&T
HomeCenter System for electronic bill paying on a home TV screen, or may
include electronic bill paying software for a personal computer. Other
contributions may include an intelligent telephone like the AT&T Computer
Telephone 8130 with powerful call management features designed to improve
home-based worker productivity.

These families may also receive a voice-activated long-distance service
similar to AT&T VoiceLine(SM) Service which allows people to make calling
card calls simply by speaking the name of the person they're calling.
Additional services, such as the AT&T True Connections(SM) 500 personal
number, can be programmed to ring virtually anywhere a Celebration
subscriber chooses.

Innovative AT&T products and services will be available for purchase by all
residents of Celebration as the community grows.

"The forward looking environment of Celebration will provide AT&T with
exciting opportunities to create a `living laboratory' to explore how
people learn about new technologies," said Andreassen. "This pioneering
effort will serve generations to come."

AT&T Solutions provides large global clients the resources to create and
sustain competitive advantages and improvements in profitability. It teams
with other AT&T business units, as well as incorporates best-in-class
offerings from other companies, to deliver innovative business solutions.
The combination of expert consulting skills with systems integration and
outsourcing services enables AT&T to deliver superior electronic commerce
solutions anywhere, anytime.

ALL WITHIN THEIR REACH

For the residents of the town of Celebration, the benefits of technology
will be comfortably within their reach with a broad array of AT&T
high-technology products and services.

"We have learned from more than a century of delivering world-class
long-distance service that technology makes many things possible," said
John A. Greco, Jr., director of the AT&T Consumer Laboratory. "But what's
most important to customers is making technology useful -- just as AT&T is
doing in the town of Celebration."

To meet consumers needs in ways that no other communications company can,
AT&T will equip 300 Celebration residences with a variety of AT&T products
and services (see main release) and solicit feedback on a regular basis.
The town of Celebration will become a unique opportunity -- for both
consumers and AT&T -- to shape the future of technology.

AT&T NETWORK SYSTEMS AND BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES MAKE DISNEY'S FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE A REALITY

AT&T Network Systems and BroadBand Technologies, Inc. have been chosen by
The Celebration Company, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, to
provide the latest generation switched digital fiber-to-the-curb network
for Celebration, a new town under development near Orlando, Florida.

Families residing in Celebration, which is expected to grow to 20,000
residents, will have all the wonders of Information Superhighway
technologies at their fingertips with AT&T and BroadBand's jointly
developed broadband access architecture platform -- The SLC-2000 Access
System with FLX Switched Digital Video. This product integrates AT&T's
SLC-2000 digital system with BroadBand's Fiber Loop Access (FLX) switching
and transport technology, creating for network operators a powerful,
cost-effective technology platform for new digital services and brings ATM
to the home. The solution provides unlimited bandwidth for ATM signals,
and complies with industry standards, i.e., SONET, ATM, MPEG and TR-303,
providing true service independence. This is the second planned deployment
of this switched digital video system for the two companies. Southwestern
Bell is deploying this access platform in Richardson, Texas.

Providing leading-edge telephony, cable TV, interactive digital multimedia
and high-speed data communications services to future residents is a
vision for Celebration, where a feature-rich communications tapestry can
be configured to give residents the imaginative services a true community
of the future will provide.

"The proof of any technologies' value is the benefit it brings to people's
lives," said Bob Henry, vice president for Business Development at
BroadBand. "The interactive communications services that Celebration
residents will have demonstrates the way in which switched digital
broadband technology is delivering today's most advanced communications
solutions, and providing an unrestricted path to the future."

"We are excited about working with Disney for good reasons," said Ronald H.
Shurter, vice president of AT&T Network Systems Network Integration
Services group which is responsible for providing the professional
services including design, testing, deployment and end-to-end integration
for the access network. "Disney is a visionary company. We see Celebration
becoming a blueprint for community development across the country and a
showcase for our integrated services."

The power of a truly service independent digital network bringing ATM to
the home can be seen in the types of future benefits that could be
provided to residents of Celebration. Since services as broad as the
imagination of the developer can now be configured and implemented at any
data rate, at any time, future benefits could include:

* Home security linking each resident to a central monitoring point.
* Home energy management allowing residents to manage energy and water
  usage, even meter reading.
* Interactive banking.
* Voting from home.
* Virtual office. Residents with technical jobs would be able to
  perform complex, job related tasks at home, such as downloading
  CAD files.
* High-speed Internet access.
* Total interactive linkage between residences, health care
  facilities, schools, community facilities and retail establishments.

As the technological enablers for this fiber optic community, AT&T Network
Systems and BroadBand Technologies are demonstrating ways in which
essentially invisible technology becomes visible, by improving the quality
of life of every resident in Celebration.

AT&T Network Systems is the world's largest manufacturer of network
telecommunications equipment and supplier of end-to-end solutions used by
network service and information providers around the world.

BroadBand Technologies, Inc., based in Research Triangle Park, NC, was
founded in 1988. Its mission is to provide network operators with the
systems required to bring the power of interactive switched digital
broadband technology to consumers. The company's Fiber Loop Access (FLX)
System is currently being developed by Bell Atlantic and is being trialed
by Southwestern Bell. It has been in trials in most regional Bell
operating companies, by GTE, and by a number of international telephone
companies.
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
