Indiana University Acquires First Inter-City Segment of Dark Fiber Through FiberCo

ANN ARBOR, MI – January 12, 2004 – Today, FiberCo(tm), 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(r), 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.”

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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. http://www.iu.edu

About FiberCo(tm)
FiberCo(tm) 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. For
more information, visit: http://www.fiberco.org.

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. Its Web address is
www.Level3.com.

Contact:
Greg Wood
Internet2
(202) 331-5360
ghwood@internet2.edu