Atlantic.Net Press Releases

GAINESVILLE, FL (01/24/02) – Atlantic.Net (https://www.atlantic.net), a nationwide provider of Internet access and telecommunications services and one of the country’s fastest-growing companies, today announced a partnership with Kids Universe, Inc. (http://www.kidsuniverse.org), a global advocate for improving the quality of education for all children and youth by closing the “Digital Divide.” The main objective of the partnership is to help underprivileged youths gain access to the Internet from their homes. Atlantic.Net will donate funds to Kids Universe to advance the organization’s initiatives, as well as provide financial incentive to schools who sign up new members for Atlantic.Net’s Internet service through Kids Universe’s “SmartSkool™ Partner School” program. Atlantic.Net and Kids Universe will initially focus marketing efforts in Georgia and Florida, eventually rolling out the program across the United States.

“We are committed to helping close the ‘Digital Divide,’” said Curtis Lee, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Kids Universe. “We are excited to welcome Atlantic.Net as part of our team and look forward to working with them to promote our mission.”

Kids Universe was founded in March 2000 to help ensure that all children have equal opportunity to benefit from the educational capabilities of today’s technologies. Kids Universe’s mission is to help improve the quality of education for all children through programs such as “Ask the Professor,” an online tutorial, and “Connect to Learn,” a program that provides computers and Internet access to homes of underprivileged youths.

“Atlantic.Net feels it can make a substantial contribution to Kids Universe,” said Marty Puranik, president and CEO of Atlantic.Net. “We understand the value of providing Internet access to society as a whole. For the past six years, we have been expanding our network beyond the metropolitan areas in order to be able to provide service to more remote locations. Our partnership with Kids Universe further increases our efforts to help close the ‘Digital Divide.’”

Atlantic.Net has been offering Internet access since 1995. Standard features of Atlantic.Net’s Internet service include free technical support and free billing support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and a network with multiple high-speed connections to the Internet backbone, resulting in a 99.9% uptime guarantee. In addition, Atlantic.Net’s network is recognized as a Cisco Powered Network, a distinction reserved for the world’s top one percent of Internet Service Providers.

About Atlantic.Net

Atlantic.Net’s services include broadband, telecommunications, e-commerce, Web solutions and dial-up. The company, ranked number 223 on this year’s Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America, was founded by two University of Florida students who launched one of North Florida’s first commercial Internet services in 1995. Over the past seven years, Atlantic.Net has acquired 13 Internet service companies and augmented its e-business services to include true private networks, fractional T-1 through DS-3 connectivity, DSL and ISDN access, Web hosting and Web design. Atlantic.Net’s staff has grown to more than 100 employees. Since 1998, Atlantic.Net has been recognized annually as one of Florida’s fastest-growing private companies, last year ranking number 11 in the state. To learn more about Atlantic.Net’s complete line of services, call 1.800.422.2936 or visit the corporate Web site at https://www.atlantic.net. For company information, check out http://newsroom.atlantic.net.

About Kids Universe

Kids Universe was founded in March, 2000 by Curtis Lee and Kevin Watkins, Information Technology professionals committed to improving the quality of education through Internet access and online learning. Kids Universe, Inc. was organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. The organization’s activities focus on ensuring that all children have equal opportunity to benefit from the educational capabilities of today’s technologies through programs such as “Ask the Professor,” an online tutorial, and “Connect to Learn,” a program to connect homes of underprivileged children to the Internet. For more information, visit http://www.kidsuniverse.org or call 678.407.1331.