Cox Fibernet to build wide area network for Virginia Beach School System

ATLANTA - JUNE 26, 1997 - Cox Fibernet, a wholly-owned operating unit of Atlanta-based Cox Communications, Inc., will provide state-of-the-art broadband technology to interconnect 57 Virginia Beach, Va., school facilities in a Wide Area Network (WAN).

The WAN will allow the facilities, mostly elementary schools and administrative buildings, to access the Internet and transfer grades and other data. The new WAN will be integrated into the existing WAN used by 27 middle- and high schools, which was built by Cox under contract to Unisys in 1996.

Under the new seven-year, $2.3 million contract, Cox has been selected as the sole provider of the network, which will provide 10 megabit connections for the school sites. Cox will network the sites on counter-rotating fiber ring backbones that operate at 100 megabits. Each school would interface to this backbone with a 10-megabits Native Ethernet LAN connection. Cox will integrate the new WAN to the existing WAN at the central office router site.

"We're very excited to be the sole provider of this important communications network for one of our largest school districts," said Franklin R. Bowers, President of Cox Fibernet in Hampton Roads. "Cox is much more than just a local cable company - our state-of-the-art broadband network provides the most reliable service for all kinds of telecommunications services, including high speed Internet access and data transfer, and telephone services."

Construction will begin in July, and schools will have networking capability as their site is activated. The entire network will be completed in June 1998.

"We are excited about bringing the second phase of our Wide Area Network online with Cox. Our current WAN runs extremely well and it has allowed us to bring both instructional and administrative applications such as the Internet, electronic mail and our calendars online," said Mark Thorsen, coordinator of technical services for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. "The prospect of adding the infrastructure necessary for high speed Internet access and e-mail to the elementary schools is generating a lot of excitement."

The Fibernet access network is composed of hundreds of route miles of fiber optic cable in ring topologies. The self-healing fiber ring 100 percent SONET (synchronous optical network)-based backbone reaches throughout the Hampton Roads metropolitan area and connects virtually every business district. To provide nearly 100 percent network reliability, Cox's Ring-in-Ring architecture employs two diverse paths. In the event of a fiber cut, service is maintained via the second diverse path. For each node, more than one fiber pathway is available in the event of a cut fiber line. Electronic circuitry at each node senses the loss of signal and automatically switches the current to the backup route without any interruption to the customers' services.

To further ensure network reliability for the school system and its other clients, Cox Fibernet shares a network operations center (NOC) in its Atlanta, Ga., headquarters with Cox Communications to provide surveillance of the ring network 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The NOC is responsible for operating, administering, managing and maintaining the company's switched, packet-switched, data and CATV network. It can also detect real-time network faults and provide the means to respond both automatically and manually to equipment failures. Cox's network specialists in Atlanta will work in tandem with Fibernet's field technicians in Hampton Roads to guarantee the highest level of network reliability.

Cox Fibernet is a wholly-owned operating unit of Atlanta-based Cox Communications, Inc., (NYSE: COX), among the nation's largest cable television operators. As a full service provider of telecommunications products, Cox has interests in wired telecommunications, including cable television, high speed access to the Internet and telephone services; wireless telecommunications, including personal communications services (PCS) via Sprint PCS and direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television via PrimeStar; and programming networks including The Discovery Channel.

Cox was distinguished for achieving the highest overall customer satisfaction rating among cable television users in the first study of the cable television industry by J.D. Power and Associates in 1996. More information on Cox Communications can be found on the Internet at www.cox.com.