Global Internet communications, commerce, and media company Yahoo! Inc. has selected Williams Communications as its preferred national backbone provider for data and video services. Per the agreement, Williams Communications will deliver fully operational local-to-national-to local Gigabit Ethernet service. The companies have also agreed to collaborate on the development of Williams Communications' wide-area Gigabit Ethernet service, which will be generally available in the first quarter of 2002. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Williams Communications' Gig-E service allows customers to tie their networks directly into Williams Communications' national fiber-optic network, providing a seamless and ubiquitous communications infrastructure, claims the company. The service gives its customers the choice of flat rate or usage-based billing done in increments as low as a single megabit, providing customers with service and cost flexibility.
Williams Communications Group Inc. (Tulsa, OK) is a broadband network services provider focused on the needs of bandwidth-centric customers. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.williamscommunications.com.