Houston, TX (September 18, 2001) -- Nextira, a leading network services and solutions provider of voice, data and converged technology, announced today the successful restoration of communications networks for the City of New York Command and Control Center, Nasdaq and Merrill Lynch, following last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

After confirming the safety of Nextira staff in the affected areas on Tuesday, the company immediately went to work establishing an emergency command center in Connecticut and a secondary staging area in New Jersey for customer support. The sites are being used to assist clients in the WTC area by rerouting voice and data networks to remote locations.

By Wednesday morning, Nextira had re-established communications functions for the City of New York Command and Control Center, which was originally housed in collapsed building seven of the World Trade Center complex.

"Since Tuesday's tragic events, Nextira field engineers and technicians have been working around the clock to restore critical communications systems vital to the city of New York and the United States financial markets," explained Bob Wentworth, Nextira's president and CEO. "I'm so proud of the great effort and dedication displayed by our staff to support our customers during this time of crisis."

More than a dozen Nextira field personnel completed what would normally be a three-week project of restoring the city's command and control center in a matter of 18 hours. This consisted of installing two Nortel Networks PBXs, networked together along with a Nortel Networks voice mail system and 300 telephones to provide service and necessary capacity.

Nextira also restored critical communications functions for Nasdaq over the weekend, which entailed working at three different locations. At 125 Broad Street and 4 Times Square, Nextira installed Nortel Networks PBXs and at 33 Whitehall Street, Nextira installed additional Nortel Networks equipment to increase the call carrying capacity of that office.

To continue meeting the immediate disaster recovery needs of its customers, Nextira has established a toll free service hot line for emergency requests in these areas. For more information on disaster recovery assistance, call (800) 379-0515 between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. EDT, Monday through Friday, or (800) 324-2222 outside of the above times and state that the call is "Disaster Recovery" related.

Nextira is comprised of a group of companies that include the former Williams Communications Solutions, Milgo Solutions, and TimePlex. Headquartered in Houston, TX, Nextira is a leading provider of network solutions and services. Nextira delivers world-class solutions and life cycle services from planning and design, through the implementation, support, and management of voice, data, and converged communications networks. As a nation-wide service organization that carries an extensive portfolio of certifications and product expertise, Nextira provides best-in-class technologies from leading partners, such as Nortel Networks and Cisco Systems. Nextira offers consultation and solutions development ranging from contact center applications to network infrastructure outsourcing. Nextira is owned by Platinum Equity (www.peh.com), a global organization specializing in the acquisition and strategic management of high-tech companies. For more information, please visit www.nextiraone.com.

###

Contacts:
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Shawn Robinson (305) 448-7450 x138
srobinson@webershandwick.com

For NextiraOne:
Shannon DeYoung
Director, Marketing
713-307-4743
Shannon.DeYoung@NextiraOne.com