Dear Editor:

Keeping up with customer demands for high-quality service and ever increasing
Internet bandwidth requires Telco providers to continually update and add
technology components to an infrastructure bursting from network traffic.
Particularly in a tightening economy, the solutions must provide the best
performance and scalability -- at the lowest cost. More and more, those
solutions are Linux-based.

IBM is increasingly finding that telco customers are inquiring about the
interoperability and price/performance of open source Linux as a way to
improve
customer service and lower costs in their networks and datacenters. Today IBM,
furthered its commitment to the telecom industry by announcing a broad array
of
Linux-based end-to-end solutions designed for a wide variety of functions
within
the Telco environment. IBM's large telco customers already run Linux on IBM
mainframe systems to realize substantial cost savings and greater profit
margins
by consolidating servers and workloads onto one machine. Today's announcement
broadens their choice of offerings.

Cost saving is just one concern, increased competition in the telco space
means
providing the best service possible to the public. With the information
explosion more devices -- faxes, pagers, cell phones, modems -- access the
telecommunications network putting a strain on resources. But Telcos cannot
lower their service standards, if anything they must constantly improve to
keep
customers happy. By using Linux-based eServer solutions from IBM, Telcos can
offer that quality service to consumers without compromising their business
goals.

For example, Telia, Scandinavia's largest telecommunications and Internet
service provider, chose a portfolio of IBM Linux solutions to host all of its
consumer and business services operations. Telia replaced its current
infrastructure -- 70 Sun Microsystems Web hosting servers and EMC storage
servers -- with one IBM s/390 G6 enterprise server and one 11.2 terabyte IBM
Shark storage server running Linux.

Today, Telia hosts more than 1,500 customers through individual Linux "images"
on the single s/390 with nearly instantaneous scalability up to 30,000 images.
Deutsche Telekom did much the same thing when it installed an IBM eServer z900
running Linux to manage massive email databases for its customers by running
hundreds of Linux partitions. Such a solution can play a key role in a
company's
overall business strategy, helping to rethink existing pricing structures by
reducing costs.

We'd like to arrange an interview for you with a key IBM Linux executive to
speak on the expansion of Open Standards-based solutions in the
telecommunications space. I will call you shortly to further discuss this
topic,
or you can reach at 212-320-2342.

Best regards,
John Rzadzki
212-320-2342
johnr@tsicomm.com


IBM Offers End-to-End Linux Solutions for Telecommunications Industry
Solutions Help Build Scalable Internet Data Center Infrastructure on Linux

SUPERCOMM, Atlanta, June 4, 2001 -- As part of IBM?s corporate-wide investment
in Linux, IBM is delivering the broadest portfolio of Linux-based solutions
for
the telecommunications and service provider industries. IBM offers complete
Linux solutions to assist telecommunications customers with web serving,
e-commere, e-mail and message collaboration.

?We see a unique opportunity for the telecommunications industry to reduce
costs
and improve return on investment by consolidating workloads that run today on
multiple servers,? said Deepak Advani, Vice President of Linux Strategy at
IBM.
?By offering  customers Linux-based hardware, software, and services
solutions,
we will provide the most cost-effective way to run an Internet Data Center and
an e-business.?

Some of IBM?s recent efforts to expand Linux support for telecommunications
providers include:
?    The latest release of z/VM, enabling customers to better exploit the
S/390
or eServer z900 servers running Linux at a substantially lower cost.  The z/VM
software upgrade (version 4.1) is suited for customers moving Linux workloads
deployed on multiple servers onto a single S/390 or z900 server, while
maintaining the same number of distinct server images.

?    Enabling the z900 server running Linux with hipersockets and
cryptographic
hardware support  allowing customers to increase communications performance
between Linux and OS/390 servers as well as deliver the highest level of
scalable, e-transaction security at industry-leading performance.

?    Availability of  WebSphere Commerce Suite, Pro Edition V5 on Linux for
z900
and S/390 in the second half of 2001. This new software release on Linux will
provide maximum flexibility by supporting all configurations running Linux.

?    Availability of high-availability for DB2 Universal database on eServer
xSeries running Linux, by  integrating the SteelEye(TM) LifeKeeper® Next
Generation Enterprise Reliability(TM) platform with IBM DB2 UDB.  The solution
will be made available later this year allowing customers to maximize uptime.

The lineup of IBM telecommunications Internet Data Center solutions supporting
Linux includes:

WebServing
IBM?s Linux solutions are ideal for rapidly expanding Web sites, providing
customers with a standards-based infrastructure.
?    For a single Web site with static Web serving -- IBM x135 server running
Apache, Fast T200/T500 storage, DB2 UDB Enterprise Edition and 24x7 support.
?    For a growing single Web environment with dynamic Web serving -- IBM x330
cluster, WebSphere Application Server, DB2 UDB Enterprise Edition, Enterprise
Storage System, cluster software, and extensive services such as training,
education and cluster consulting.
?    For a large number of Web sites with static Web serving--  IBM zSeries,
DB2
UDB running Apache open source software, Enterprise Storage System,  xSeries
cluster platform running WebSphere Edge Server and cluster software, and
advanced services and support.
?    For a large and growing number of Web sites with dynamic Web serving--
IBM
zSeries server running WebSphere Application Server and  DB2 UDB Enterprise
Edition, Enterprise Storage System, xSeries cluster running WebSphere Edge
Server and, advanced services and support.

E-commerce
IBM?s Linux solutions allow service providers to deliver extensive e-commerce
services to customers, increasing site functionality, accommodating high
transaction volumes and leveraging existing back-end systems.
?    For business-to-consumer commerce transactional application support --
IBM
xSeries cluster running WebSphere Application server, WebSphere Commerce Suite
Start Edition, DB2 UDB Enterprise Edition, Enterprise Storage System, and
extensive services to facilitate installation.
?    For large and growing Web sites with more advanced business-to-consumer
e-commerce requirements -- IBM eServer z900 running WebSphere Application
Server
and WebSphere Commerce Suite Pro, DB2 UDB Enterprise Edition, Enterprise
Storage
System, and WebSphere Edge Server running on xSeries cluster, all with
extensive
services packages.

E-mail/Collaberation
IBM?s Linux solutions give service providers integrated solutions that are
scalable in all dimensions to accommodate rapid growth and peak loads. Service
providers can deliver an Internet mail hosting service to become a full
service
hosting provider.
?    For messaging and collaboration -- xSeries cluster running Lotus DominoR5
Server, DB2 UDB enterprise edition, Enterprise Storage System, and extensive
services.
?    For multi-client e-mail serving -- IBM eServer z900 running Sendmail
Advanced Message Server, DB2 UDB Enterprise Edition, Enterprise Storage System
and advanced support and services offerings.

IBM?s efforts to advance Linux reach back to 1998. In keeping with IBM?s
commitment to open standards, IBM?s support of Linux via technology, skills,
services and corporate focus is unrivaled in the IT industry. IBM has the
industry?s largest portfolio of hardware, software and services for Linux,
including telecommunications.  The company?s telecommunications offerings can
also build on customer's existing solutions, allowing pieces of the solutions
to
interoperate with the systems customers already have installed.

###
About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of
leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM creates, develops and
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the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com.