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October 1, 1999

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Lessons From Exodus's Success

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A P Kamath in Atlanta

K B Chandrashekhar The founder and chairman of a six-year-old company valued at $ six billion will share his success story with would-be entrepreneurs at the Speaker Series organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs on October 21.

How do you identify major new market opportunities? What are the critical elements of first class execution to grow your business and stay ahead of the competition? How do you build a great team to deliver quality services?

K B Chandrasekhar of Exodus Communications will address the above question at the free event.

Exodus Communications Inc (NASDAQ: EXDS), a leading provider of Internet system and network management solutions for enterprises with mission-critical Internet operations.

On October 1 Exodus announced plans to open its largest and most state-of-the-art Internet Data Center in Atlanta.

Earlier this year, Chandrasekhar received the Northern California 1999 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the category of communications.

"The success of Exodus demonstrates the power of entrepreneurial thinking" he said, "and I look forward to continuing to use the Internet as a way of enhancing global communication into the next century."

Chandrasekhar was born and raised in Madras, and educated at Madras University. He began his career in 1983 at Wipro, the information technology company, as a customer support engineer. Over his seven years with the company, he advanced through various sales, marketing and support functions including building highly available networks for satellite applications and managing marketing for Europe.

In 1990 he moved to the US as country manager for Rolta India, Ltd, responsible for business development, marketing and software consultant services to software developers and end users. At Rolta, he generated major new accounts including Ford, DEC, ScanOptics and Borland.

In 1992 Chandrasekhar set out on his own and founded Fouress Inc, a network software design and development firm, and its clients included Sun Microsystems, Adaptec, Toshiba, and Lockheed. Within two years, Fouress had sales of $ one million and was highly profitable.

In 1994, he identified the potential of the Internet and founded Exodus Communications. The company went public in March 1998 in one of the most successful IPOs of the year. And a few months ago Fortune magazine called Exodus one of the most exciting success stories in recent years.

'Unlike Amazon, Exodus Communications isn't a household name, even among techies. But the company won't remain anonymous for long. Essentially an outsourcing firm, Exodus operates Websites for corporations, taking care of details that many big companies would rather not worry about, such as making sure firewalls are secure and guaranteeing that data download quickly. The business is exploding,' Fortune wrote.

"When web sites were simple, corporations would handle the job themselves," explains analyst John Hodulik of Paine Webber. "But company web sites are getting much more complex. So they bring in Exodus to do it for them, saving time and improving performance."

As Exodus's client list has grown, so have revenues, dramatically: In each of the past 10 quarters, sales have risen in excess of 40 per cent. Hodulik predicts revenues in 2000 will top $ 320 million, up from $ 174 million in 1999.

The company manages Internet web sites and its network infrastructure from 13 IDCs located in the United States and Europe. Exodus currently has IDCs located in the Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle (2), Silicon Valley (4) and Washington, DC (2) metropolitan areas.

By the end of 1999, Exodus will have 22 sites operational in the United States and overseas.

"Exodus continues to play an important part in the rapid growth of the Internet by building the most technologically advanced facilities in the locations where they'll have the greatest impact," said Ellen M Hancock, Exodus president and CEO.

"The continual expansion of our IDC network, combined with the additions to our managed and professional services, allows Exodus to provide its customers with the resources necessary to successfully extend their businesses to the Web and to continually enhance their Internet operations."

The new Atlanta IDC will be operational by the end of the year. This 300,000 gross square-foot facility will be the largest IDC announced to-date to support the growing demand for Internet services. Designed for 24 x 7 operations, Exodus IDCs are a virtual extension of the corporate enterprise.

The IDCs enable companies to reduce ongoing network operating costs and ensure availability of mission-critical Internet systems, which is crucial for providing reliable Internet services and quickly expanding Internet capabilities.

Thirty-eight per cent of the top web sites are hosted at Exodus IDCs, according to Media Metrix, and these market leaders rely on Exodus's state-of-the-art facilities and professional and managed network services to offer end-users optimal experience.

Exodus recently announced the acquisition of an additional 5.1 Gbps of network capacity connecting future IDCs in Europe, Japan and the United States. It also expanded its managed services line with the introduction of the Security Services Pack, a comprehensive suite of planning, monitoring and management services, and the ReadyCache Content Distribution Service, which utilizes Inktomi's Traffic Server to improve performance and expand customers' global content server infrastructure.

The TiE talk will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm at the GCATT Auditorium (250 14th Street).

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