Virgin Radio Selects Hibernia Atlantic's Trans-Atlantic Cable Network

March 21st, 2006 -Virgin Radio and Hibernia Atlantic, a diverse trans-Atlantic transport provider, announce today that Virgin Radio has selected Hibernia Atlantic's network to provide three different cable routes with Gigabit Ethernet services across the Atlantic and within the UK and New York City, including a direct connection to tel(x), New York City's most network-dense interconnection facility.

Virgin Radio required a secure, diverse network path and true Ethernet service while avoiding the traditional congested oceanic and terrestrial backhaul routes such as the UK's Bude, Bristol and Whitesands areas or Long Island aerial poles and the over-utilized Garden State Parkway. Hibernia Atlantic met their needs.

They own and operate the only direct trans-Atlantic cable route from the US and Canada to Ireland and the UK and is providing Virgin Radio with true Ethernet over a SONET/SDH backbone. This is not a shared MPLS network similar to other traditional Trans-Atlantic carriers.

"Virgin Radio is a great addition to Hibernia's growing customer list," states Eric Gutshall, VP of Sales and Marketing for Hibernia Atlantic. "Hibernia Atlantic will offer Virgin Radio the highest level of private network Ethernet at a competitive price, and the ability to directly connect with hundreds of other providers at tel(x). Outside of being a huge fan of the station, we look forward to providing Virgin Radio the ability to grow their broadcast network."

"Since turning up the circuit from the UK to New York City a few weeks ago, Virgin Radio has already provided streaming media to thousands of our listeners via Hibernia Atlantic's secure network," states David Jones, Head of IT for Virgin Radio. "Today's announcement is one more testament to Virgin Radio's reputation as the world's most listened to station on the Internet, with a proven record of adopting the latest technology to ensure our listeners the best audio experience possible. And beyond service, we also get choice. With our secure access to tel(x) within 60 Hudson Street in New York City, we now have the ability to cross-connect to over 250 network providers, from metro to international carriers, ISPs and content delivery providers, which are competing for our business. "

"Virgin Radio is an excellent example of the new wave of content and media providers who are now taking space, power and network access at tel(x)," continues Hunter Newby, Chief Strategy Officer of tel(x). "Virgin Radio immediately took advantage of interconnecting to other network providers through the tel(x) Meet Me Area. They have multiple fiber capacity and IP peering interests for both transit and transport and they have instantly become a key member of the tel(x) community."

For more information about Virgin Radio please visit http://www.virginradio.co.uk
For more information about http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com