SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15, 1999 - Spinway.com announces today that it is working with some of the world's leading technology providers to power the free Internet service being offered by BlueLight.com (www.bluelight.com), a new stand alone e-commerce company from Kmart Corporation (NYSE: KM) and SOFTBANK Venture Capital. Spinway.com, a leading free Internet access and advertising solutions company has worked directly with Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and ICG Communications (NASDAQ: ICGX) to build a solid server and infrastructure technology to support BlueLight.com's free Internet service. BlueLight.com's free Internet Service Provider (ISP) will help bring the Internet to the millions of Americans who are not currently online.
BlueLight.com's traffic will run on ICG Communications' nationwide Cisco Powered Network, which provides the infrastructure and host server capacity for the site. Through their working partnership, Spinway.com and ICG have seamlessly integrated all technology components and are managing and maintaining the infrastructure to build a network that is of the highest quality and reliability, yet completely scalable.
"With the traffic we expect BlueLight.com to generate, it was imperative for us to choose only the best-of-breed technology partners to support, manage and maintain the property - for launch through the long-term," said Mark H. Goldstein, CEO of BlueLight.com. "As a result, BlueLight.com has built strong relationships with Spinway.com, Cisco and ICG - credible companies that will support this initiative and help our company grow quickly."
"Unlike the predecessors in our space, we have realized from the start that our growth would be explosive based on our free Internet access partnership with BlueLight.com," said Zachary Levow, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Spinway.com. "Working with Internet leaders like Cisco and ICG, Spinway.com has created an infrastructure that is completely scalable and has deployed enough equipment and support personnel to accommodate millions of subscribers on day one. We are starting where the others leave off."
"With this significant, multi-year contract with Spinway.com, ICG hassecured agreements for more than 700,000 ports in the past five months andexpanded its ISP customer base to include a growing breed of non-traditionalISPs, such as BlueLight.com," said J. Shelby Bryan, chairman and chiefexecutive officer of ICG.
"There is a growing trend for enterprises to collaborate with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer consumers branded Internet access. Cisco believes Kmart, Spinway.com and ICG are at the forefront of seizing this growing market opportunity," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president of Cisco's Service Provider Line of Business. "Cisco's AS5x00 series of remote access concentrators provide the ideal foundation for Bluelight through their enhanced support for e-commerce services."
About ICG
ICG Communications, Inc. is one of the nation's fastest-growing, Internet infrastructure service providers to the Internet service provider (ISP) community. Through its nationwide communications network that serves more than 700 cities, ICG provides access for approximately 10 percent of the nation's dial-up Internet traffic. In addition, ICG provides high-quality telecom services, including local, long distance and data communications, to businesses nationwide, as well as direct connectivity to interexchange carriers. For more information on ICG Communications (NASDAQ: ICGX), visit the company's Web site at http://www.icgcom.com.
About Spinway.com
Established in 1998, Spin Media Network Inc. (http://www.Spinway.com) provides businesses with co-branded or private label, free dial-up Internet access for use in driving traffic and broadening brand identity. Spinway.com's technology solves the targetability, tracking and rich media shortcomings of traditional browser-based advertising. First to market with full-motion video at dial-up, Spinway.com can deliver targeted, trackable, 30 frames per second, non-streaming television quality commercials over standard dial-up modems - without impacting a user's experience. Spinway.com can easily incorporate partners' technology to include personalized content, rewards programs, instant messaging, full-featured email and parental control software. The result is an effective marketing tool that propels user acquisition and retention, drives more traffic to partner sites and provides them with a constant connection to their user base.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is theworldwide leader in networking for the Internet.Cisco, Cisco IOS, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
