LONDON June 30, 1999-- Interoute Telecommunications (Interoute) today unveiled a new era in pan-European communications by announcing the launch of i-21 Future Communication (i-21), a next generation ultra-bandwidth provider and Europe's largest-ever network in terms of fiber kilometers, cable kilometer, capacity and geographic reach. The network will be built in two phases, the first of which will cost $1.5 billion (Euro 1.44 billion). The company also appointed Alcatel as its principal contractor and Corning Incorporated as supplier of G.655 optical fiber.

The i-21 network is the first in the world designed to be able to carry more than one petabit (1,000 terabits per second) of traffic, and it will offer managed bandwidth and IP-based services on an unprecedented scale. i-21 is a subsidiary of Interoute, one of Europe's fastest-growing telecommunications groups, which is majority-owned by Fondation de la Famille Sandoz, one of Europe's largest private foundations.

The i-21 network will go live in May 2000 and will be 90 per cent complete by the end of 2000. It will connect 17 European countries, have 200 points of presence, measure 20,900 route kilometers and will use over 8 million kilometers of the latest generation of G.655 optical fiber - enough to circle the world 200 times.

The prime contractor is Alcatel and rights of way were secured earlier this year, to allow design and construction work to begin. Alcatel will provide a full turnkey, integrated solution for the project including design, installation and operational support. Construction will be jointly project-managed by Alcatel and i-21. The network will use the latest G.655 optical fiber, Corning's LEAF® (large effective area fiber) product. The i-21 network incorporates subsea connections across the North Sea, Irish Sea and Baltic Sea. Development work for the subsea segments began earlier this year and construction is being undertaken by Flute, a UK-based submarine network developer recently acquired by Interoute.

Ohad Finkelstein, Interoute's Chairman and CEO, commented, ``i-21 will change the business model for voice and data communications in Europe. While others are merely talking about the future of broadband communications, we are actually building a network to meet the information needs of the 21st century. Our mission is to deliver virtually unlimited bandwidth at competitive prices to handle the current explosion of data and Internet traffic. The fact that we have already secured rights of way, that cable is being laid and that we have commitments from the Sandoz Foundation and Alcatel gives us a significant competitive advantage.''

Christian Tournier, President of Network Services Operations at Alcatel, commented, ``Our agreement with i-21 demonstrates Alcatel's ability to develop and deploy the integrated technology and solutions required by new network operators. By exploiting our track record as technology innovators, our global presence and our unrivalled project management and network integration skills we can help a 'greenfield' operator like i-21 achieve its goal of providing Europe with an information infrastructure that is second to none.''

Wendell Weeks, Executive Vice President of Corning Incorporated, commented, ``The advanced network technology that i-21 announced today would not be possible without the application of Corning's advanced LEAF optical fiber design within the i-21 network.

This fiber allows more communication channels to be transmitted over longer distances and at faster speeds than is possible using conventional optical fiber. For i-21, this means more bandwidth per fiber kilometer for less cost. Today's announcement makes i-21 one of Corning's largest customers for LEAF optical fiber. We are delighted to welcome i-21 as a customer.``

The i-21 network contains 192 fiber pairs - more than any other pan-European network. The rapid evolution of optical transmission technology means that, by 2001 when the network is completed, it is envisaged that up to 160 lamdas (light channels) will be available on each fiber pair, running at line speeds of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). This will enable it to carry more than 300 terabits in each duct of the network. With up to five ducts available in the network, i-21 will eventually be capable of transporting more than one petabit (1,000 terabits per second) of traffic.

The i-21 architecture comprises a series of in-country rings, linked together in a single, seamless network. Each country ring will connect that country's major business centers and will pass close to numerous others, which can be connected at low cost. The result will be greatly enhanced intra-country, as well as inter-country, connectivity.

i-21 will offer three types of service:

Managed fiber services - lit and unlit: Aimed at established and new carriers, ISPs and others planning to operate their own transmission facilities. Unlike other providers, i-21 will also offer 24-hour, seven-day-a-week network monitoring and repair via its own network monitoring centers - thereby reducing the capital cost to its customers of building and managing their networks.

Managed bandwidth services: Based on SDH transmission equipment, i-21 will offer point-to-point or network-wide managed bandwidth services, at speeds from T1/E1 up to OC-192/STM-64.

Managed IP and related services: i-21 will operate its own managed network, optimised for IP. This network will feature peering at high speeds with other IP carriers and ISPs in Europe and the US, gateway services between traditional circuit-switched networks and packet-switched IP networks, and hosting services to support the delivery of Web-based commerce and other applications to consumers and businesses.

i-21's business model anticipates a dramatic fall in bandwidth prices. According to research commissioned by i-21 from the Yankee Group, European tariffs are up to 10 times higher than in the US.

For example, the monthly rental on a 1.5/2 Megabits per second (Mbps) leased line from Madrid to Brussels - a distance of 1,300 kilometers - is $58,000 ($45 per kilometer), compared to just $4,500 for New York to Boston, a distance of 800 kilometers ($5 per kilometer).

Yankee Group also expects the European Internet traffic (time online) to jump from 145 billion user minutes this year to 400 billion user minutes by the year 2003. This in turn will push up the annual demand for bandwidth by 600 per cent over the same period.

John Mittens, Founder of i-21 and Interoute said: ``My vision is to provide the kind of bandwidth services in Europe needed to deliver 21st century applications, some of which we can't even imagine yet. With i-21, never again will the lack of bandwidth limit the delivery of communications services.''

Notes to Editors:

About Interoute

Interoute is a leading pan-European telecommunications group and one of the fastest-growing in the world. Operating in 11 countries throughout Europe as well as North America, the group offers a wide range of communications services to business customers, residential users and other carriers. The group operates its own international network with switches in London and New York and is building national networks in selected countries. Interoute has more interconnects in the UK than any other carrier except BT and has full operating licences and interconnect agreements in most major European countries. Interoute is a privately held company owned by a number of internationally based shareholders, the largest and majority shareholder being the Fondation de Famille Sandoz, one of the world's largest private family foundations. The Sandoz Foundation has also recently acquired a controlling interest in World Online, one of Europe's largest Internet Service Providers. Interoute and World Online are collaborating to bring a full range of telecoms and Internet-based services to their respective customers.

About Alcatel

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 million ($25.0 billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.

Alcatel provides a full range of network services for Public Network Operators and through its Network Services portfolio its offer includes turnkey network construction from engineering to commissioning and support from maintenance and technical operations to facility management. Alcatel acts as a partner for solutions throughout all the phases of Network Operator business life cycle: network design, network construction, network integration and implementation, network care, service creation, billing care, customer care.

About Corning

Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning's revenues in 1998 were $3.5 billion. More information on Corning optical fibre is available at