MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2001--CosmoCom, Inc. the leading provider of new generation call center platforms, has announced an agreement with Marconi (LONDON and NASDAQ: MONI), a global supplier of advanced communications solutions, committing Marconi to place a total of at least $12 million in orders for CosmoCom software, subject to CosmoCom completing developments integrating CosmoCall Universe(TM) and Marconi's Intelligent Packet Network (IPN) product line.

This is the largest order commitment in CosmoCom's history.

"Our relationship with Marconi is more than a vendor-supplier one," stated Ari Sonesh, President and CEO of CosmoCom. "Marconi's major commitment, and its keen interest in making CosmoCall Universe part of their IPN offering, reflects the high regard for our products and our company that makes this a true strategic partnership. Marconi's focus on the service provider market for IPN reflects and confirms our belief in the future of network-based call center services."

"Marconi and CosmoCom share a vision of the rapidly converging worlds of telephony and multimedia services for intelligent broadband networks," remarked Joe Pajer, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Marconi's Routing & Switching Products division. "As one of the few all-IP call center products on the market, CosmoCall Universe features high scalability, rich functionality and the ability to integrate with third-party products. As part of our IPN suite of carrier-grade solutions, CosmoCall Universe is a key application for network operators seeking innovative value-added services such as the network-based call center to attract and retain customers in their next generation networks."

"Marconi's choice to integrate their IPN product line with CosmoCall Universe is an indication that IP call center solutions are evolving significantly, and highlights the growing importance of service provider solutions," stated Yankee Group CRM Analyst, Gerard O'Shea.

In addition to being a CosmoCom VAR and strategic partner, Marconi also is an investor in CosmoCom through Marconi Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Marconi PLC.

CosmoCom's new generation call center platform, CosmoCall Universe(TM), is the essential eCare technology, connecting eBusinesses and their customers worldwide in multimedia sessions via the Internet and the telephone, and also managing e-mail and voice messages, all in a single unified platform. CosmoCall Universe supports live online customer care - the next big trend on the Internet - with an IP-based call center architecture designed for high capacity, high availability operation, and global distribution.

Marconi's IPN architecture offers service providers a scalable, carrier-class, multimedia-over-packet solution for building a converged network that enables the sale of revenue enhancing, leading-edge applications, such as CosmoCall Universe. "The alliance between CosmoCom and Marconi is a natural," continued Sonesh. "Marconi's IPN provides exactly the managed IP communication backbone that CosmoCall Universe requires, and CosmoCall Universe provides a value-added application that helps differentiate Marconi's IPN offering."

About Marconi plc

Marconi plc is a global communications and IT company with around 49,000 employees worldwide and sales in over 100 countries. It supplies advanced communications solutions and the key technologies and services for the Internet. Marconi plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ under the symbol MONI. The headquarters of Marconi Communications is in Pittsburgh, PA. Additional information about Marconi can be found at www.marconi.com.

About CosmoCom, Inc.

CosmoCom, Inc., is the leading provider of new generation call center platforms. Its unified, all-IP product, CosmoCall Universe(TM), is a carrier-class system for Service Providers and large scale corporate users that supports multimedia customer interactions via all channels - telephone and internet, live and message-based, fixed and wireless - in one high capacity, high availability, multi-tenant platform. The company's mission is to maintain its technology and market leadership in the growing new generation call center market, with a focus on the increasing number of service providers offering call centers as a network-based, hosted application. Headquartered in Melville, New York, with offices and distribution partners throughout the world, CosmoCom has received an array of industry awards. Market analysts Frost and Sullivan recently reported that CosmoCom's large and growing installed base represents a 50% share of the US IP-ACD market. For more information about CosmoCom, please visit www.cosmocom.com.

All brands or product names are trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Sperling Greene Associates (for CosmoCom), New York

             Steven Greene, 212/967-8266
             sgreene@sgapr.com

09:03 EST   JANUARY  8, 2001