Yep, I dont look at them that many hrs early (i.e. the night before) but just looked and still up 24 pts. Should be a pretty big day; rarely do you see them up that much this close to the open! Woo hoo
ABOV has more good news.... man amazing...
Monday April 5, 7:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: AboveNet Communications, Inc.
AboveNet Announces London ISX as the Third
European Facility Along With Austria and Germany
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- AboveNet Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: ABOV - news), the architect of a
global one-hop network that brings together high-bandwidth content sites and ISPs in centralized co-location facilities, today
announced it has formed a strategic joint venture with two of the UK's leading telecommunications entrepreneurs to build a
regional Internet Service Exchange(TM) (ISX(TM)) in London, England. The two partners, Bill Dobbie and Angus MacSween,
were the founders of Teledata, a leading call center and Internet services company. Today's announcement marks the third
European ISX joint venture to be established as a part of AboveNet's European expansion plan. With its presence in the UK
and the German markets AboveNet can reach a substantial number of the European Internet population.
AboveNet is working to form a series of joint ventures with experienced Internet management teams and strategic partners to
create regional ISXs in the major business centers across Europe. Mr. Dobbie and Mr. MacSween bring a wealth of
knowledge to the partnership, as well as more than 10 years' experience in the UK telecommunications industry. They built
Teledata, which was a pioneer in the UK call center and audiotex business, and attracted customers such as Microsoft,
Compaq and Eurodisney. After selling Teledata to Scottish Telecom in 1995, Mr. Dobbie and Mr. MacSween became
Directors of Scottish Telecom and were responsible for the acquisition and integration of DEMON Internet, the UK's largest
ISP. During that time they managed a fivefold increase of revenues of their original company which contributed significantly to
the value of Scottish Telecom.
Through this alliance, AboveNet will provide the network architecture model, network intelligence and software technology
necessary to create the UK ISX facility. AboveNet will be the exclusive provider of connectivity services to the ISX and it will
be linked directly into AboveNet's Global One Hop Network(TM) through its own STM1 link, which now terminates at the
London Internet Exchange (LINX). The facility for the London ISX has already been selected in the London Docklands, and is
scheduled in the second half of 1999. The London ISX will provide a robust, scalable Internet infrastructure designed to handle
the accelerating Internet traffic growth occurring in Europe.
''We believe Bill and Angus have the entrepreneurial and management skills to make our joint venture a market leader in the
UK. We look forward to working closely with them towards that goal,'' said Dr. Paul Steiner, Vice President,
International-Europe for AboveNet. ''A world class facility in the UK is key to delivering our Global One Hop Network to
Europe to provide our customers with a convenient, powerful solution to Internet congestion.''
''We are pleased to work with AboveNet because we share a similar vision of improving the Internet experience worldwide,''
said Bill Dobbie, Managing Director of AboveNet UK Limited. ''AboveNet consistently provides a flexible, reliable and
scalable solution that we believe will meet the needs of our European customers. We are happy to leverage AboveNet's
position and experience and provide our customers with transit services immediately and co-location as soon as the ISX facility
is operational.''
''We believe the UK market offers one of the largest potential Internet market in Europe and is key for our European strategy,''
said Warren J. Kaplan, President and Chief Operating Officer of AboveNet. ''Traditionally, the UK is one of the first European
markets to follow US trends, and this is already clearly happening in our target market areas.''
The European Regional ISX facilities are being designed to deliver to local communities a fast, reliable and scalable Internet
solution for mission- critical and high bandwidth applications. These facilities will co-locate content providers and ISPs together
to deliver superior connectivity for local access and a direct link into AboveNet's global network. We believe ISX members will
benefit from improved Internet performance and reliability as a result of the Company's extensive global peering arrangements
with more than 210 major ISP networks.
About AboveNet Communications Inc.
AboveNet Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet connectivity and co-location solutions for high bandwidth and
mission-critical applications. AboveNet is the architect of the Internet Service Exchange (ISX) -- a world class network that
provides co-location services for Content Providers and ISPs interested in developing business and strategic partnerships. The
AboveNet Global One-Hop Network is designed to deliver fast, scalable and reliable connections to the Internet and improves
the Internet experience for all of the network's end-users. With its Tier 1 status and ISO 9002 certification, AboveNet is
positioned to serve the global community of the Internet. For more information on AboveNet and its service offerings visit the
company's Web site at above.net.
AboveNet, Internet Service Exchange, ISX and AboveNet Global One-Hop Network are trademarks of AboveNet
Communications, Inc. All other company or brand names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are
associated.
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical, such as statements as to the development of the
London ISX and the growth of the UK market, are forward looking statements within the meaning of section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the company's expectations, beliefs, hopes,
intention or strategies regarding the future. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks related to
intense competition, the emerging market for co-location and connectivity services, risks related to International expansion, the
uncertainty of the acceptance of the Company's services, network scalability and other factors and risks discussed in the
company's registration statement on form S-1, as amended, initially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
September 10, 1998 and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: AboveNet Communications, Inc. |
