Stmt re Ignite ContentHosting

British Telecommunications PLC
14 September 2000


BT'S IGNITE CONTENT HOSTING OPENS FOR BUSINESS ACROSS EUROPE

*    Ignite Content Hosting forges ahead in Europe as part of a
     £1.25 billion global expansion with AT&T and Concert, BT's
     global venture with AT&T
*    Ignite Content Hosting demonstrates the strength of its
     European operations and partnerships with the opening of
     pan-European service across 20 Internet Data Centres and
     across nine countries
*    Advanced Applications Service Provision platform launched today

A major development in the European hosting market is unveiled
today as the hosting arm of Ignite, BT's new international
broadband Internet Protocol (IP) business, announces it is 'open
for business'.

Ignite Content Hosting, through BT's wholly owned European
operations and joint venture partnerships, now has an extensive 
network of 20 Internet data centres offering service
across nine countries, namely Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Seven new European data centres  - Amsterdam, Manchester,
Glasgow, Milan, Dublin, Frankfurt and Hanover - have recently
gone live, with further expansion planned, as Ignite Content
Hosting steps up its bid to be a leading player in
the marketplace.

The twin factors of integrated service provision
between partners and the geographical reach of the network give
Ignite Content Hosting's customers the benefit of true pan-
European implementation on a global to local level.

Vernon Irvin, president of Ignite Content Hosting, said:
'Customers are quite clear about what they want from their
content host. They want reliability, security and speed.

We're confident we can meet and exceed these needs. Put simply,
no one can match the size of our Internet data centre roll out,
the technical expertise of our partners or the industrial
strength of our broadband network capability.

It's an exciting time in the content hosting sector.  We've
moved quickly, and we aim to take the marketplace by storm.'

The global market for web hosting is forecast to grow from 
$4 billion in 2000 to more than $16 billion by 2004 due
largely to the rise in e-commerce and the emergence of a new
breed of companies, namely application service providers (ASPs),
which run computer applications for companies over the Internet.

Ignite is well positioned to be at the forefront of this growing
ASP market, as today it is also launching its own wholesale 
ASP service targeted at distributors, Value Added Resellers,
Independent Software Vendors and specialist ASPs. 

Ignite ASP Enabler is a flexible end-to-end service available
with a range of support options so customers only pay for what
they need.  It allows customers to rapidly deploy their software
- without the in-house cost and risks.  It also enables them to
scale their business, test new products and get new products to
market quickly.
 
Irvin added: 'The launch of ASP Enabler brings us right to the
heart of e-business.  This, coupled with our Pan European
network, offers vendors all they need in order to build an
effective ASP business and meet the demands of a burgeoning
market'. Ignite Content Hosting is uniquely positioned in the market 
to utilise the strengths of Ignite, AT&T and Concert - BT's global 
venture with AT&T - and therefore offer customers a
complete solution from broadband networking through to IP
services, content hosting, application services, outsourcing and
system integration.

Today's launch is part of the global plan announced
recently by BT, AT&T and Concert to build a network of 44
Internet data centres in 16 countries which will enable the
three companies to lead the e-commerce and Internet market.