MCI GIVES THE HEART OF A NETWORK
                  TO UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

MCI Donates High-Speed Data Switches To Engineering School

Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 14, 1997 -- Sending U.Va. a
Valentine, MCI today donated six Cisco Lightstream Switches to the
School of Engineering and Applied Science. The gift, valued at nearly
$1
million, will be announced at a dedication ceremony at 11:30 a.m.in
Conference Room 228-E in Olsson Hall on Friday, Feb. 14.

The switches will provide the backbone for U.Va.'s Digital Imaging
Processing Network (DIPN), which can be used for research and data
applications by many different departments. Already, researchers in
computer science and radiology have built a network for transmitting
digital mammograms from the Medical Center to a computer lab in the
engineering school. The switches will enable them to establish a
dedicated
network capable of managing massive amounts of data as they work to
enhance
the system's quality.

Rick Wilder, MCI senior engineer, said, "MCI knows the benefits of
high
performance networking and we are pleased that this gift will enable
U.Va.
to use those advantages to further its state-of-the-art research."

In the same way that a heart and valves conduct the flow of
blood through the body, a switch, which is a mechanical device,
controls
the flow of data through a network by opening and closing different
pathways. The switch is also critical in determining how much and how
fast
data can move through the network, which is formed when there is a
link
between two or more switches.

"With these switches, a world of possibilities opens for U.Va.," said
Jorg
Liebeherr, assistant professor of computer science. "Once the system
is
completed, we will be able to access medical imaging data immediately
from
any location connected to this network. That in turn will allow
medical and
computer science researchers to work together to conceive and improve
medical imaging applications. And with the University's planned
connection
to the nation's high speed computer network this summer, we can expect
to
enter into research collaborations on a nationwide scale."

MCI is providing six Cisco LightStream L2020 Switches and the
corresponding software licenses. The equipment was formerly used in
MCI's
very High Speed Backbone Network (vBNS).

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., provides a full range of
integrated
communications services to more than 20 million customers. Credited
with
opening up the U.S. long distance market for competition, MCI is now
leading the charge to bring competition to the $100 billion local
market,
offering American consumers for the first time the freedom to choose
their
local carrier. With 1996 revenue of $18.5 billion, MCI is one of the
largest and fastest growing telecommunication companies in the world.
On
Nov. 3, 1996, MCI announced a definitive agreement to merge with BT to
form
Concert plc., the world's first global communications company.