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Technology Stocks : Global Crossing - GX (formerly GBLX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rick who wrote (3708)	12/21/1999 7:18:00 AM
From: TechMkt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15615

Next stop...60. Fez ___________________ Tuesday December 21, 2:01 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Asia Global Crossing and Global Bandwidth Solutions Announce Completion of Pacific Ocean Subsea and Japanese Terrestrial Cable Systems -- Pacific Crossing-1 the most advanced cable ever deployed in the Pacific TOKYO, and HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 1999-- -- Subsea and terrestrial systems expected to be ready for service before the end of December, three months ahead of schedule Early availability creates lead in Japanese market Asia Global Crossing Ltd., an affiliate of Global Crossing Ltd. (Nasdaq:GBLX - news) and Global Bandwidth Solutions, a subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8802), today announced that initial cable connections have been completed on the northern section of their transpacific subsea cable, Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1), the most advanced cable ever deployed in the Pacific, and their Japanese terrestrial system, Global Access Limited (GAL). The subsea and terrestrial systems will combine to provide broadband capacity from the United States to Tokyo, Japan. After testing, the two systems are expected to be ready for service before the end of December, three months ahead of schedule and approximately one year before the next cable system linking the US and Japan will begin service. ``Pacific Crossing is key to our goal of providing a seamless, worldwide network of state-of-the-art fiber optic connectivity for our customers,' said Bob Annunziata, Chief Executive Officer of Global Crossing. ``Transpacific telecommunications demand has increased tremendously over the last few years, fueled by Internet and other high bandwidth data applications. This demand will be best served by open access IP global networks linked by PC-1, as well as other Global Crossing projects around the world.' ``The number of Internet users in Japan is currently approaching 20 million, and growing at a rate of over 50% per year. This trend has made Japan the second largest population of Internet users in the world,' said James Pagos, Chief Executive Officer of Global Bandwidth Solutions. ``These two projects and the speed with which we have implemented them have given us a tremendous head start in the Japanese market.' Pacific Crossing PC-1 will connect four landing points in Japan and the United States to form a 21,000-km, four-fiber pair self-healing ring. Landing points in Washington State and Ajigaura are now complete. The transoceanic cable is designed to operate initially at 80 Gbps (gigabits per second) of service capacity, and is upgradeable to 640 Gbps, using DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) technology. PC-1 is the first non-carrier, non-consortia, privately owned and operated cable system to cross the Pacific Ocean. The system is majority owned by Asia Global Crossing; Global Bandwidth Solutions owns approximately one-third of the joint venture. It is an essential link for international carriers as they prepare to tackle the swelling data, Internet, and telephony traffic demands between the U.S. and the Pacific Rim in the 21st century. Global Access Limited Global Access Limited will supply the critical connection from the coast to the major metropolitan markets in Japan on its state-of-the-art terrestrial fiber optic network. The first segment of the network between the PC-1 cable station at Ajigaura (Ibaragi Prefecture) and Tokyo has recently been completed and will begin service in concert with PC-1. Construction on this segment began in September 1998 and principal rights of way were obtained from Ibaragi Kotsu Company and Kashima Rinkai Railway Company. The second segment of the GAL network will connect PC-1's southern Japanese cable station at Shima (Mie Prefecture) to Osaka and is scheduled to begin service this summer. When completed, the network will connect with Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. These three cities alone constitute nearly 80% of Japan's international telecommunications traffic. At that time, the GAL network will cover over 1,500 kilometers and provide ultra-high capacity over multiple ring configurations providing diverse routing options and redundancies to ensure service quality. GAL will maintain its own operating center and will also be integrated into Global Crossing's new worldwide network operations center in London. GAL was founded in 1997 by Global Bandwidth Solutions' parent company, Marubeni Corporation. Global Bandwidth Solutions owns the majority of the venture and Global Crossing holds the remaining 49%. GAL was licensed as a Type-1 (facility-based) carrier in Japan in April 1998.