Two major New England Universities are to benefit from a joint initiative between Bermuda-based Global Crossing Limited's subsidiary Global Crossing Telecommunications, Inc. and NorthEast Optic Network, Inc. (NEON).

The pair has undertaken an initiative to bring the most advanced fibre-optic connectivity to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the University of Maine.

Global Crossing Telecommunications selected NEON to supply the fibre links connecting the infrastructure at both universities directly to Global Crossing's worldwide, IP-based network at its Boston switch.

Global Crossing Telecommunications has installed links from Boston to both universities and the New Hampshire consortium of colleges which includes Plymouth State College, Keene State College and Dartmouth College.

Global Crossing Telecommunications will provide the connectivity for Internet, voice and ATM services for UNH and access to the Internet for the University of Maine via a private line.

Additional services are scheduled over a four-year period.

"Global Crossing's strategy is to extend our robust worldwide network with all of our advanced voice and data products directly to a customer's desktop,'' said Louis Ercolano, President of Eastern Region Sales for Global Crossing Telecommunications.

"These direct high speed circuits will provide the scalable capacity required for the relentless demands on the Internet made by our customer's end users -- the students and faculty of these universities in New Hampshire and Maine.'' NEON Chairman and CEO Vincent Bisceglia added: "This particular initiative with Global Crossing Telecommunications underscores NEON's commitment to strengthening the information infrastructure of New England.

"We are enthused by our growing relationship with Global Crossing Telecommunications as they continue to demonstrate their effectiveness and excellence as a full-service carrier.'' Bob Johnson, Director of Telecom and Networking for UNH said: "Global Crossing's innovative approach to find a cure instead of treat the symptoms has solved our bandwidth problems and will meet our growing technology needs.

Partnerships like these are key to our continued prosperity.''