Cidera and DigiPlex Partner

DigiPlex (www.digiplex.com), a new European operator of carrier-neutral co-location facilities, announced an agreement with Cidera ( www.cidera.com), which specializes in satellite-based delivery of broadband content to the edge of the Internet. Under the agreement, DigiPlex will host Cidera's content broadcast equipment in its facilities, enabling Cidera to provide DigiPlex's Internet customers with an alternative method for broadband content delivery.

According to Bob Jones, managing director of Europe for Cidera, the company should have its services available for the following DigiPlex locations by the end of the year: Frankfurt, Oslo, Geneva, Milan, Munich, Stockholm, Amsterdam, London and Berlin. These are the first locations for what DigiPlex is calling its MegaPlexes. DigiPlex has planned a 22-city build-out of major European business centers, which it expects to complete by the end of 2001.

DigiPlex is a privately held company with equity investments from The Carlyle Group, Providence Equity Partners, Carrier1 and iaxis. The company will be opening MegaPlexes to provide connectivity to fiber optic networks and house critical voice and data networking equipment for DigiPlex customers. The company is targeting fixed line operators, wireless carriers, Web hosting companies, Internet service providers, applications service providers, and Internet content and content delivery providers. Cidera will be offering its usenet news and cache turbo charging services -- which allows Web pages to be stored locally -- to DigiPlex customers. Cidera's satellite edge delivery services for live webcasting will also be available.