ATLANTA - MARCH 19, 2001 - Cbeyond Communications, a leader in the emerging local voice and broadband services market, has entered into a strategic customer relationship with Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, to bring affordable all-packet telecommunications solutions to the small business market. In addition, Cbeyond has been designated a Cisco Powered Network program member. Cisco and Cbeyond will further develop the "end-to-end" solution that brings to market an architecture that supports both local and long distance services using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Cbeyond Communications is one of the first service providers to build from the ground up an integrated, pure-IP network for primary line local telephony. Cbeyond's first service package is now available in Atlanta. It includes high quality local and long distance service, high-speed Internet access, email and web hosting, and it is designed specifically to serve the needs of small business customers with less than 100 employees.

For significantly less than the capital expenditures of circuit-switched carriers who provide only a voice product, Cbeyond will deliver a richer, integrated package of voice, broadband Internet access and IP-based applications to this underserved market. This package provides greater value to small business customers at a cost dramatically lower than what they are paying today for voice alone. This single network approach disruptively lowers the economics that constrains legacy carriers and at the same time meets the reliability and affordability needs that are an ongoing fact of life for small businesses.

Cbeyond's offering has been constructed using hardware and software configurations from Cisco, including the new Cisco IAD 2400 series smart integrated access devices, the Cisco 10,000 Edge Services Router, the Cisco Catalyst 6500, the Cisco 7200 series router and a softswitch.

"Choosing Cisco as our technology partner was the culmination of rigorous testing, extensive competitive analysis and third-party validation. It became very clear that Cisco had the technology, was clearly 6-12 months ahead of their competition in their thinking and development process, and was focused on the end-to-end solution to meet our needs," said Jim Geiger, CEO of Atlanta-based Cbeyond.

"For small businesses, the productivity implications of high speed access are staggering, and being able to have local and long distance telephony on the same network from a single service provider means they can focus on their core business as Cbeyond focuses on their telecommunications needs," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president and general manager, service provider line of business at Cisco. "Offering unique combinations of rich, new data services and high demand voice services enables Cbeyond to deepen their subscriber relationships and become the trusted communications partner of the small business market."

"Small businesses crave the promise of broadband because of the productivity leaps it allows them to make," said Geiger. "But they have to be able to afford it, and it has to work. Cbeyond Communications and Cisco are leading the infrastructure revolution that will bring that promise down market for those customers."

Cbeyond's participation in the Cisco Powered Network program demonstrates to individuals and businesses its ability to provide industry-leading services that are based on Cisco solutions. Cbeyond will also benefit from its Cisco Powered Network designation through joint marketing and technology sharing activities with Cisco.