EAGAN, Minn. - WAM!NET Inc., a leading provider of digital content management services, today announced that it, along with prime contractor Electronic Data Systems (EDS) (NYSE: EDS), and principal partners Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTNb) and WorldCom (Nasdaq: WCOM), has been awarded a $6.9 billion Navy and Marine Corps intranet contract -- the largest Federal information technology contract ever awarded. The contract, which will result in the creation of a new, global networked platform to provide voice, video and data services to the Navy and Marine Corps, is valued at $4.1 billion over five years, with the potential of an additional three-year option valued at $2.8 billion. Designed to connect 300 Navy and Marine Corps bases both within and outside of the U.S., the intranet project will serve several hundred thousand Navy and Marine Corps users by addressing their need to distribute large quantities of information rapidly and securely. By leveraging its global networking and data storage services expertise and infrastructure, WAM!NET will establish the base area networks and local area networks for data and voice capabilities. WAM!NET officials highlighted the significance of the contract award as a core component of its growth strategy in the government market. "This award both presents a tremendous business growth opportunity for WAM!NET and recognizes our proven track record in delivering comprehensive network and data storage services on a global scale," said Ed Driscoll, chairman and chief executive officer, WAM!NET Inc. "We are pleased to join with industry leaders EDS, Raytheon and WorldCom in the design and implementation of this state-of-the-art digital communications network for the Navy and Marine Corps. Overall, the project will serve as a fundamental strategic step in our efforts to build WAM!NET's presence in this important market and take advantage of our strong growth opportunities." "This important contract further solidifies WAM!NET's market position as a premier provider of managed services for e-business," said Allen Witters, chief technology officer, WAM!NET Inc. "WAM!NET has built its business around delivering a comprehensive portfolio of network, data storage and hosted application services to industries that create, distribute and manage large amounts of information. Together with EDS, we will deliver to the Navy and Marine Corps a best-practices solution that addresses their need to securely and rapidly transmit and manage their data, voice and video communications globally. We expect that the project will serve as a model for other armed forces branches and government agencies that currently are dealing with a similar set of challenges." Named the Information Strike Force, the EDS-led team will work with the Navy and Marine Corps in a partnership that will share cost savings. EDS serves as the project's prime contractor, consistent with the company's leadership in delivering IT services to government. As EDS subcontractors, Raytheon will be responsible for all security requirements and WorldCom will provide circuitry between bases. It is expected that the Information Strike Force will subcontract approximately 40 percent of the work to small and disadvantaged businesses. WAM!NET launched efforts to market and sell its network, storage, and hosted application and infrastructure services to the government marketplace in June 2000, following the company's approval by the General Services Administration to sell on the GSA Schedule for Electronic Commerce Services. With this approval, WAM!NET e-services - including transport services for static and motion-based media, digital archiving services for storing, retrieving, sharing and managing data, and render on demand service for creating high resolution motion images -- now are broadly available to all levels of government, including Federal, State, City, and Regional, along with their associated agencies, throughout the United States. About WAM!NET Inc. Headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, WAM!NET is a leading provider of business-to-business network, data storage, application and hosting services to companies that produce and distribute digital content. Delivered to customers on an outsourced, subscription or pay-per-use basis, the company's services unite collaborative communities that specify, create, print, store, broadcast and distribute content within WAM!NET's fully managed secure IP infrastructure. WAM!NET serves many of the world's leading corporations, pre-press shops, printers, advertising agencies and publishers, and is increasingly in demand in the feature film production, broadcast, medical and government markets. Commencing operations in 1995, WAM!NET has approximately 13,700 corporate end users of its e-services worldwide. WAM!NET services are available throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Australia. The company has strategic relationships with SGI, MCI WorldCom and Winstar Communications. For information on WAM!NET, call 800-611-9006, or visit the company's Web site at www.wamnet.com.