Securities Industry Gets Secure Network

NEW YORK -- Con Edison Communications (CEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED), today announced that it has entered into an agreement with SIAC to build the new Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI). In the aftermath of September 11, financial firms are seeking to provide assurance of day-in, day-out service reliability for their customers as well as customer protection of operations in the event of disaster. Network diversity, which adds system redundancy, is an important tool in meeting these customer needs. SFTI (pronounced "safety") is designed to address this need by adding true network diversity and enhanced assurance of continued service to the securities industry. The Securities Industry Automation Corporation, known throughout the financial world as SIAC, was founded in 1972 as a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). SIAC runs the computer systems and communications networks for the two exchanges and disseminates U.S. market data worldwide. Today, organizations connect to SIAC via private networks between their own facilities and SIAC's data centers. In creating SFTI, SIAC is building a new infrastructure in concert with Con Edison Communications. With SFTI, firms will connect to common access nodes that provide highly reliable diverse paths to the SIAC data centers. This frees member companies from the burden of building their own diverse network backbones, while giving them the ability to work with their choice of telecommunication carriers to connect to SFTI access nodes. The SIAC infrastructure will connect member companies to SIAC data centers through geographically diverse network routes. In the event that telecommunication services were disrupted in Manhattan's core business district, financial data traffic will proceed, uninterrupted. "Since our decision criteria were network diversity and coverage, Con Edison Communications was a logical choice," stated Joseph Kubat, president and co-COO of SIAC. "We were especially impressed by their commitment and responsiveness. CEC was extremely dedicated, resourceful, and able to react quickly to business and technical issues. Clearly, CEC appreciates the importance and timeliness of the SFTI initiative." Con Edison Communications Inc.