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MCI to Provide Internet Connectivity to Microsoft at Unrivaled Speeds
PR Newswire - October 20, 1997 11:10
MCIC MSFT %TLS V%PRN P%PRN
OC-12 Connection Installed to Move More than 2 Terabytes of Data
Per Day From Microsoft's Data Center to the Internet
Provides Microsoft Fastest Corporate Connection to the Internet
RESTON, Va., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- When the world's largest software
company needed mammoth connections to the Internet, MCI (Nasdaq: MCIC) offered
a ground-breaking solution. MCI is building a custom pipeline -- the first
commercial OC-12 connection -- for Microsoft Corp.'s data to travel at speeds
up to 622 Mbps from its new data facility in Canyon Park, Washington directly
to the Internet.
"As Microsoft continues to focus on the Internet as a growing
communications platform, supplying bandwidth to our facilities will be
critical," said Arne Josefsberg, General Manager, Global Networking,
Microsoft. "MCI, with its extensive Internet backbone, has the ability to
deliver bandwidth to meet the unique requirements of our new state-of-the-art
data facility."
The new data facility, operational since mid-September, will house all
servers for the public Microsoft sites, including MSN, The Microsoft Network,
MSNBC and microsoft.com. In addition, Microsoft will be
distributing future upgrades and updates for all of their Internet based
services from the Canyon Park center.
Initially Microsoft's data center will be connected to MCI's Internet
backbone, the industry's first network to operate at speeds of 622 Megabits
per second (OC-12), using the Cisco Sytems' 7500 series of routers and Fore
ATM switches. Microsoft and MCI are testing the Cisco 12000 Gigabit Switch
Router for possible utilization in the future.
Microsoft currently moves nearly 15 Terabytes of traffic per week from its
sites in Bellevue, London and Tokyo, with traffic doubling every six months.*
It is estimated that MCI handles between 60 and 70 percent of Microsoft's
Internet traffic.
"MCI was the only company positioned to meet Microsoft's requirements,"
said Stephen Von Rump, MCI's vice president of enterprise marketing. "When
Microsoft needed unprecedented access to the world's highest capacity
backbone, MCI delivered."
MCI has led the Internet industry in delivering high-speed bandwidth to
market. MCI will complete the most recent upgrade to its network in late
October, doubling its current industry-leading standard of 622 Megabits per
second (OC-12) to carry data between POPs at 1.2 Gigabits per second
(aggregate bandwidth). MCI is currently installing a second round of OC-12
circuits into its core Internet backbone to keep pace with the rapid growth in
traffic on the network.
About MCI
MCI is the Internet service provider of choice for the Fortune 100 and
other ISPs as well as the leading U.S. carrier of both domestic and global
access services. Next generation services like RealNetwork are catapulting MCI
to the next millennium where its Vault initiative -- combining the MCI
Switchnet with the MCI Internet backbone -- will deliver a whole new set of V-
class services. Currently, MCI provides a wide range of commercial offerings
including dial and dedicated access, managed Web hosting and intranet
services.
MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., offers the industry's most
comprehensive portfolio of communication services. With 1996 revenues of
$18.5 billion, MCI ranks as one of the world's largest telecommunications
companies. MCI is also the world's third largest carrier of international
voice traffic and operates one of the world's most advanced Internet networks.
Since its founding in 1968, MCI has been a leader in bringing the benefits of
long distance competition to businesses and consumers and is now leading the
charge to open U.S. local calling markets to competition. MCI has agreed to
merge with BT to form Concert, the world's first global communications
company.
* 15 Terabytes is 15 trillion bytes of information, the equivalent of
18,000 full-length feature films or 540,000 sets of encyclopedias.
SOURCE MCI Communications Corporation
/CONTACT: Caroline Rice of MCI, 415-228-1169 or Caroline.Rice@mci.com/
(MCIC MSFT)
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