Everest Broadband 5-8-01

Everest Broadband Networks Canada Continues to Grow Despite Slowdown in Broadband Sector

Signing Deals with Dundee Realty and O&Y Properties Corporation

TORONTO -- (May 8, 2001) -- Everest Broadband Networks Canada, under the guidance of Steven Reichmann, today announced agreements with two of Canada's leading commercial real estate companies - Dundee Realty Corporation (TSE:D) and O&Y Properties Corporation (TSE:OYP, OYP:DB).

Everest, one of the fastest growing providers of in-building broadband and user applications services to multi-tenant unit (MTU) buildings in North America, has signed a master agreement with Dundee Realty, which holds an ownership interest in over 11.2 million square feet of office and industrial space across the country. In addition, Everest will 'light' O&Y Properties' prestigious First Canadian Place in Toronto. This is an extension of a national access agreement to offer Everest Broadband services to tenants in O&Y Properties' owned buildings.

"In both cases, it became evident that Everest's solid service offerings and strong business model were the key reasons the deals were secured," said Reichman.

"We were looking for a long-term relationship with a broadband company - someone who would be around to provide services to our customers," said Allan Perez, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Dundee Realty. "We think Everest has a good business plan and they're well backed financially. Their service offerings are very attractive. We have a lot of small and mid-sized businesses in our portfolio (of buildings) and their business model is targeted at that group. We believe Everest can help us enhance the value offering to our tenants."

Moshe Wertheim, Senior Vice President, Property Innovations and Technical Services, O&Y Enterprise, the real estate services division of O&Y Properties, said: "We have many high profile tenants at First Canadian Place and it's important to deal with a supplier like Everest who has a proven business model and the ability to provide reliable service to meet their needs."

Steven Reichmann points out that Everest's stringent business model was further validated with the recent third round of financing of $50M from lead investor Exelon Capital Partners and seed shareholders, Pequot Capital Management and SOFTBANK Venture Capital. He added that Paul Reichmann also invested in that round of financing, in trust for the beneficiary of Paul Reichmann's family, while he increased his investment. The company's approach avoids cost, scalability and low tenant penetration rate issues that have plagued competitors.

"With broadband demand expected to double every year, tenants are looking for reliable solutions to their Internet and integrated telecommunications needs," explained Reichmann, founding partner of Everest Broadband Networks Canada. "Everest will be there for the long-term to provide for tenant needs because we conduct a thorough examination of each building tenant base to ensure they match up with broadband services we are providing and the financial realities of wiring and equipping a building to provide those services. Dundee Realty and O&Y Properties tenants can look forward to additional innovative, value-added services from Everest in the near future."

The master agreement with Dundee Realty extends to their portfolio in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Everest Broadband will concentrate on properties in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and move into the other markets according to its business plan.

Everest Broadband Networks Canada, with its U.S. parent Everest Broadband Networks, has more than 200 buildings wired and lit for broadband services across North America. In Canada, tenants are being signed up for Everest's range of broadband services, including high-speed Internet service, web-hosting services, long distance, and virtual private networks (VPN). For instance, Everest is in the process of providing North America-wide VPN services including hardware, software, and network planning for Algo Group Inc., a leading Canadian fashion manufacturer whose brands include Alfred Sung.

In the U.S., Everest recently announced the signing of building access contracts with the Lefrak Organization, a leading development company. Lefrak joins Everest's elite portfolio of real estate industry leaders like Vornado, Trump, Charles E. Smith and Crescent Real Estate Equities Company, one of the largest real estate trusts in the U.S.

As well, the company recently announced its strategy for Metropolitan Ethernet Services Architecture (MESA) and deployment of its first MESA-based Points of Presence (PoPs) in Toronto, Montreal and New York City. MESA is a scaleable, IP over Ethernet architecture to optimize Everest's PoPs and in-building infrastructure. According to Reichmann, the benefits to multi-tenant unit small and medium-sized business customers are significant as MESA is a highly cost-effective technology platform that brings new economies of scale to metropolitan area broadband service delivery, customer support and billing.

The PoPs, in essence, becomes a retail storefront for delivering the first converged voice, data, video and best-of-breed applications services to customer premises in multi-tenant office buildings. MESA enables Everest to deliver these services with carrier-grade reliability and quality of service, dynamic bandwidth management, multiple levels of security and IP directory-enabled services, all customizable by service or application for each customer.

About Dundee Realty Corporation
Dundee Realty Corporation is one of Canada's largest real estate companies. It owns and operates over 12 million square feet of space with properties in the office, industrial and retail sectors, and develops land and housing in selected markets. Dundee Realty's strategy is to maximize shareholder value through its position as Canada's largest owner-manager of affordable business premises. For more information about Dundee Realty, visit www.dundeerealty.com

O&Y Properties Corporation is a leading Canadian Commercial real estate company with a substantial ownership interests in nearly 8 million square feet of office space across the country including the 2.7 million square feet First Canadian Place office complex in downtown Toronto. O&Y Enterprise, the company's real estate services division, is Canada's largest third party property manager. It manages over 100 million square feet of commercial, retail and facilities property from coast-to-coast, (in excess of $10 billion in real estate assets), for leading public real estate organizations, financial institutions and individual investors.

Everest Broadband Networks Inc. provides high-speed Internet access, long-distance telephone service, digital broadcast satellite TV and related broadband applications in multi-tenant commercial and hotels. Everest will offer building tenants a broad range of telephony services and advanced Internet applications such as e-mail, tools to build Web sites, site-hosting services, e-commerce software, and virtual private networks and IT professional services.