Enron rings opening bell for bandwidth
     exchange 
     By Corey Grice
     Staff Writer, CNET News.com
     December 2, 1999, 5:40 p.m. PT 

     The opening bell has rung for a new kind of exchange. The currency? 
Bandwidth. 

     A subsidiary of energy industry giant Enron, Enron Communications, today 
opened the
     doors to a bandwidth commodity exchange. The company first announced its 
intention to
     sell space on high-speed networks as a commodity in May. 

                            Traditional commodity exchanges sell goods like 
oil, natural
                            gas and grain. Enron has taken this concept and 
given it a
                            telecommunications spin, offering space on 
high-speed
                            networks to communications carriers.

                            In the past, carriers looking to fill holes or 
service gaps in
                            their networks would have had to enter long-term 
contracts
                            with other carriers to fulfill their bandwidth 
needs. The
                            exchange, Enron says, acts as a sort of middleman 
for
                            carriers to find short-term contracts or quick 
fixes as they
                            complete network construction or try to manage
                            heavier-than-expected network traffic. 

                            For example, Global Crossing plans to sell 
capacity on a
                            high-speed fiber optic link between New York and 
Los
                            Angeles over the exchange.

     Enron also expects to start an international bandwidth trading market 
next May.

     Separately, RateXchange, a similar bandwidth exchange, demonstrated its 
own
     commodities trading system at a telecommunications conference in New 
York today. 

     RateXchange predicts that the trading of bandwidth and other 
telecommunications products
     could become a $8 billion market by 2002.