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Indiana University Acquires Inter-City Dark Fiber

January 12, 2004 Indiana University Acquires First Inter-City Segment of Dark Fiber Through FiberCo ANN ARBOR, MI - Today, FiberCo™, a fiber holding company supporting U.S. research and higher education, announced that Indiana University has become the first assignee of FiberCo optical networking assets through the acquisition of a pair of dark fiber between Indianapolis, Ind. and Chicago, Ill. Internet2®, a consortium of 205 universities working with government and industry to develop and deploy advanced networking technologies, established FiberCo last year to provide a means for acquiring, holding, and assigning dark fiber assets on both the national and the regional scales and on behalf of the higher education community. Indiana University intends to use this dark fiber pair to light two 10 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) circuits to connect the IP-Grid, a collaboration between Indiana University and Purdue University, to the National Science Foundation - supported Extensible Terascale Facility (ETF) in Chicago. The fiber also will support the universities’ connection to the new National LambdaRail facility and ultimately other connection services to Chicago. In addition, the assigned fiber will enable additional Chicago-based peering connections for the two Indiana research institutions. “FiberCo is helping our institutions reach goals in support of continued excellence in research, teaching, outreach and lifelong learning,” said Michael McRobbie, vice president for Information Technology and CIO and vice president of Research for Indiana University. “The fiber will guarantee our researchers, faculty and students better access to advanced networking technologies and collaboration.” Indiana University has obtained the dark fiber from FiberCo under an assignment agreement finalized earlier this month. This effort builds on the existing I-Light project, which has connected the core Indiana and Purdue research campuses via dark fiber using a hub in Indianapolis. “We’re pleased to recognize Indiana University as the first FiberCo assignee in light of Indiana’s now well established commitment to advanced networking leadership within the research and higher education community,” said Steve Corbató, director of backbone network infrastructure for Internet2 and the organizational lead for FiberCo. “The rapid progress made in concluding this initial agreement gives us confidence that future assignments will proceed as smoothly as this one, thus aiding our goal of aiding the deployment of regional optical networks around the country.” Under an agreement with Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT), FiberCo has the ability to provision both from an initial allocation of over 2,600 route miles and from future acquisitions of dark fiber on Level 3’s national footprint. FiberCo’s nationally aggregated approach enabled streamlined agreements and lower costs for acquiring the fiber as well as for ongoing costs of fiber maintenance and equipment co-location. “Through FiberCo, Level 3 will continue its support of the efforts the research and education communities are making to advanced networking,” said Geoff Jordan, vice president for Level 3. “We look forward to continuing to work with the advanced networking community to provide the critical services needed to research and higher educational institutions across the country.” About Indiana University Indiana University is one of the oldest state universities in the Midwest and also one of the largest universities in the United States, with more than 110,000 students, faculty, and staff on eight campuses. IU has a growing national and international reputation in the areas of information technology and advanced networking. IU’s extensive information technology environment is made up of high performance computing resources, facilities for massive data storage, and advanced visualization laboratories that enable leading scientists to visualize, analyze, and store vast amounts of data and information. About FiberCo™ FiberCo™ provides a means for acquiring, holding, and assigning fiber optic network assets in support of the Internet2 community’s goals of developing and deploying advanced network applications and technologies. FiberCo facilitates the ongoing development of regional optical networking initiatives around the country to complement existing Internet2 network infrastructure while providing a strategic fiber acquisition capability on the national scale. About Level 3 Communications Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT) is an international communications and information services company. The company operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, is one of the largest providers of wholesale dial-up service to ISPs in North America and is the primary provider of Internet connectivity for millions of broadband subscribers, through its cable and DSL partners. The company offers a wide range of communications services over its 22,500-mile broadband fiber optic network including Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, collocation services, and patented Softswitch managed modem and voice services. Contact: Michelle Pollak Internet2 mpollak @ internet2.edu ph: +202.331.5345