Sterling Communications, Provider of clean access to the Internet

Seasons Greetings from your friends at Sterling Communications. This electronic newsletter was produced at the request of our clients, to satisfy their desire for best practice recommendations, product highlights and information on Internet related risks that may adversely affect their businesses. It's our desire at Sterling to provide the very best customer service possible. Your comments and suggestions are encouraged.

comments: newsletter@sterling.net

VIRUSES continue to be the main concern
The past 6-8 weeks have been riveted with viruses being released on the Internet. The "Greetings" virus seems to be the follow on to "BugBear". There is no lack of people out there trying to complicate our world. Here are the links that tell you what to look out for, and some useful tools as well;
* Greeting's Virus
* BugBear Virus
* Link to McAfee's exhaustive list of HOAX's
* Link to McAfee's VIRUS lookup utility
* Link to PandaSoftware's free virus scanner
* Free virus UNinfection tool (cleans Klez, BugBear, etc...)

If you're sick and tired of fighting the battle, be sure to contact the sales dept at Sterling and ask them about our Email "Car-Wash". We can now pre-scrub your email for both SPAM and VIRUSES, before it gets to your location!

Genuity Files Chapter 11, Announces Agreement
Genuity, Inc. announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Level 3 to acquire substantially all of Genuity's assets and operations for $242 million, subject to adjustments. Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, which has the full support of Genuity's two largest creditors--the global consortium of banks that provided Genuity with a line of credit and Verizon Communications that provided a separate line of credit--Level 3 will operate Genuity as a separate business unit that focuses on managed IP services for the enterprise market. To facilitate the acquisition process, Genuity and certain of its subsidiaries are filing voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. More...

XO Financials Announced, Downgrade Reported
XO Communications, Inc. announced financial results for the third quarter of 2002, reporting a net loss of $51 million, or 12 cents a share, on revenue of $332 million. Standard & Poor's downgraded XO Communications, Inc.'s bond rating to CCC-plus from B-minus, citing the Company's weak liquidity and an inability to predict fourth quarter results. More...

The CLEC position is still very precarious, and the fallout is astounding. In the past 23 months, 158 of this style carrier has gone out of business nationwide. There are at least 12 locally that are either out of business or financially upside down. ePrairie.com has compiled a special report summarizing CLEC related financial problems.

Here's a list of local activities:
ATG - Advanced Telecom Group: Chapter 11 (5/21/02)
Covad Communications: Chapter 11 (8/16/01)
Electric Lightwave (ELI): NASDAQ Delist (5/20/02)
GST: Chapter 11 (5/17/00)
Jato: Ceased all operations (12/30/00)
McCloudUSA: Chapter 11 (2/1/2002)
NorthPoint Communications: Chapter 11 (1/17/01)
Rhythms NetCon. : Chapter 11 (8/2/01) UofO report
Teligent: Chapter 11 (5/21/01)
Winstar Communications: Chapter 11 (4/18/01)
XO Communications: Chapter 11 (6/18/02)

When they call, the lead-in will be saving you money on your monthly phone bill. Give us a call and we'll give you an up-to-date status on who's who in the CLEC marketplace, and explain the impact it will have on your existing services. Note: Independent of what they tell you, if you allow them to mess with your data services, you will lose your filtered access through Sterling. Something to be aware of! We're here to help, call us at (503) 885-8908 x222 and we'll assist you through the decision cycle.

New referral program - Free Internet Access!
Would you like to have free Internet access? With Sterling's new referral program, you can have exactly that. Simply continue to tell your business associates how much you are enjoying your service through Sterling, and when they establish service through Sterling, we'll credit your account. Refer enough business and we'll write you a check. Call the sales line at 503-885-8908 x230 for more information about how you can receive free Internet access, just for saying a few kind words.

Sterling offers firewall service
In the face of the increasing vulnerabilities and the prevalence of hack attempts on DSL and other "Always-On" internet connections, Sterling has rolled out a new firewall product that keeps the attackers at bay. Having no hardware requirements, this software solution is able to make your home or office network basically disappear from the Internet. No changes are required on your side, all the work is done at the main backbone at Sterling.

If you have an "Always-On" or DSL connection, call the sales line at 503-885-8908 x230 and speak to an associate about the new firewall service.