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WTA's Intelligent Community Forum Announces Winners Of Annual Intelligent Community of the Year Awards New York (October 3, 2001 ) - The Intelligent Community Forum project of World Teleport Association (www.intelligentcommunity.org) announced today the recipients of its 3rd annual Intelligent Community of the Year Awards. The awards are presented by WTA, through its Intelligent Community Forum project, to the outstanding Intelligent Community, World Teleport Property (intelligent building), Intelligent Community Visionary and Intelligent Community Technology of the current year. The winners of the 2001 Awards include: Intelligent Community of the Year: New York City, New York (USA) (www.newyorkbiz. com). Through its various initiatives, which include a major teleport, one of the world's first telecommunications hotels and "NYC: Wired to the World" economic development program, New York has created a robust broadband infrastructure and successfully harnessed it to grow an increasingly diversified economy. Forbes magazine recently rated New York as the number one city in the world in which to do business. World Teleport Property of the Year: The Wharf (Holdings) (Hong Kong, SAR) (www.wharfholdings.com), The Wharf (Holdings) is one of Hong Kong's major property developers. Two of its prominent projects - Times Square in Hong Kong and Harbour City in Kowloon - have been certified by WTA as "World Teleport Properties" for their integration of broadband communications access into mixed-used office, retail, residential and entertainment complexes. Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year: Mr. Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive for the City of Sunderland (England) (www.sunderland.gov.uk). Sunderland has continued to implement a telecommunications (telematics) strategy, begun in 1996, that has been the anchor of an extraordinary economic revival in this once-depressed region in the northeast of England, creating nearly 10,000 new jobs in less than five years. Mr. Sinclair and his economic development team continue to display innovation and leadership in evolving their telematics strategy for the challenges of the future. Intelligent Community Technology of the Year: Robotics Cabling GmbH Kabelverlegung (Berlin, Germany), Stream Intelligent Networks Corporation (Toronto, Canada) and Ca-Botics Fiber Technology (Dublin, Ohio, United States), developer and adapters, respectively, of the STAR fiber-optic cable deployment system for cities. The robotic system helps cities avoid construction and traffic congestion, while enabling broadband deployment that underpins the development of Intelligent Communities. An awards ceremony and luncheon, underwritten and promoted by Hong Kong's Investment Promotion agency (InvestHK), had been scheduled for early October in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. Due to the recent attack on New York's World Trade Center and international tensions that have arisen as a result, the event has been postponed until the year 2002. According to InvestHK's Director-General of Investment Promotion, Michael Rowse, "The Intelligent Communities Awards are the premier event of their kind in the world." Rowse added that Hong Kong is "delighted" that a Hong Kong organization (Wharf Holdings) was selected as one of this year's recipients. Information on the Intelligent Community of the Year Awards is available at www.intelligentcommunity.org. According to Robert A. Bell, Executive Director of World Teleport Association, this year's recipients represent both evolution and continuity in the Intelligent Community movement. Bell added, "The 1985 opening of The Teleport in New York - the first public-private teleport project with economic development as its explicit goal - created a new paradigm. It introduced to government, development authorities and real estate developers the idea that broadband communications could stimulate economic growth. Today, in the form of the Intelligent Community, we see that idea not only being broadly adopted but greatly broadened to include entire cities and regions. The challenges are formidable, but our recipients demonstrate that a strong vision, clear strategy and disciplined execution produce results." "One of the more gratifying aspects of this association," said WTA Chairman Stephen G. Tom," "is the chance it offers to play a role in creating an awareness, in both the mature economies of the world and those in development, of the potential of broadband communications. In the case of this year's recipients, we are truly gratified because they have created new jobs, wealth, innovation and opportunity across the board." The World Teleport Association (www.worldteleport.org) is a nonprofit, nonpolitical trade association of teleports and their development partners in over 20 nations around the world. WTA's mission is to promote the understanding, development and use of teleports in order to improve business and economic development, locally, regionally and worldwide. In August 2001, WTA announced the formation of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). The ICF is a special interest group within the association that focuses on the uses of broadband technology for economic development by communities worldwide. As part of its mission, the ICF will conduct research, support conferences, create conference content, publish newsletters and present its annual awards in cities around the globe. WTA selects its winners from both its membership and nonmembers. The final selection is made by a committee consisting of senior management, past winners and members of the Board of Directors from the Americas, Asia and Europe. - END -