ATLANTA -- Today at Networld + Interop, being held this week in Atlanta, GA, Chibardun Telephone Cooperative, an Independent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) located in Dallas, Wisconsin, has agreed to evaluate Manticom Networks Inc.'s multi-gigabit Optical Ethernet solution, the Scorpion 4104, commencing in the fourth quarter of 2002. "We are excited about the opportunity to be one of the first to trial this breakthrough technology. The 'Super Backbone' created by this product holds the potential to dramatically improve the services we provide to our customers," said Rick Vergin, CEO of CTC. "It is an honor to work with such a sophisticated and forward looking customer as CTC," said Tim Cahall, President & CEO of Manticom Networks. "The 'Super Backbone' network provided by Manticom's Scorpion product line is exactly what our customers have been looking for," said Warren Lee, President & COO of NeoNova, a systems integrator focused on the IOC market and based in Raleigh, NC. "The ability of the Scorpion 4104 to integrate a wide range of traffic types, including Internet, Video On Demand and Broadcast Digital Video on a unified backbone truly demonstrates the power of distributed, Layer 2 switching as the solution for Optical Ethernet." About Manticom Networks Manticom Networks Inc.