Cypress Communications Receives $53.5 Million in Financing; Atlanta-Based Company to Use Funds for National Expansion

ATLANTA, GA, October 15, 1999 -- Cypress Communications today announced the closing of $53.5 in private-equity financing to be used for national expansion purposes.

Investors in this round of financing, the company's third, include current investors: The Centennial Funds, Alta Communications, Beacon Ventures and new investors: Nassau Capital, Gramercy Communications Partners, AEW Partners III, L.P., Transwestern Commercial Services, and Latona Cycom Investment, LLC. Atlanta-based Cypress Communications is a major Building-Centric provider of high-speed Internet, voice and video communications services for tenants in commercial office buildings.

"We are extremely pleased with the expanded group of investors participating in this round of financing," said R. Stanley Allen, co-founder and chief executive officer of Cypress. "Individually, these investors bring a different and valuable perspective to Cypress and our strategic interests. Collectively, they will provide a unique combination of communications, real estate, and technological expertise to the company."

As a result of this transaction, Larry Grafstein of Gramercy Communications Partners and Randall A. Hack of Nassau Capital will join Cypress' Board of Directors.

Cypress Communications, founded in 1995, has 650 customers, representing 8,500 telephones and data lines/Internet connections in 122 office buildings nationwide. In addition to Atlanta, Cypress has operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Denver, San Diego, New Orleans, Bethesda, MD and Irvine, California. Cypress has near-term plans to open offices in other major markets including: New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Kansas City.

Cypress offers a comprehensive range of communications services to its customers. These services include:

* High-speed Internet access via a fiber-optic infrastructure in the building;

* Web-hosting, e-mail, domain name service and Internet support services;

* Local and long distance telephone services, voice mail, PCS and cellular service, telephone equipment and other advanced telephony services; and

* Cypress Business Television, a digital satellite video and audio service.

Cypress delivers its products via high-bandwidth fiber optic, copper and coaxial cable infrastructure installed by the company in commercial office buildings. It offers services only in buildings that it has under license agreements. Cypress provides local customer service and technical support in each of the buildings it serves. Customers receive a single bill for all services.

"As a founding investor in Cypress," said Bill Egan of Alta Communications, "I am especially pleased with the caliber of new investors that have joined our efforts and share our vision. These investors validate the business plan and are a credit to Cypress' management team."

Cypress' management team includes executives previously with BellSouth, MCI WorldCom, Metropolitan Fiber Systems, Teligent, Williams Communications, and Cushman & Wakefield. Cypress Communications Investors

* The Centennial Funds, Denver, Colorado, invests exclusively in electronic communications companies, with a particular focus on communications infrastructure, Internet-enabled communications, broadband "last mile" communications and the technology and software that enable these services. Centennial was formed in 1981 and has $724 million of capital under management.

* Alta Communications is an affiliate of Burr, Egan, Deleage & Company, which has offices in Boston and San Francisco and was founded in 1979 by Craig Burr, William Egan, and Jean Deleage. Areas of investment include information technology, communications and life sciences. Alta Communications VI, L.P. is a $160 million fund investing in the media and telecommunications industries. A successor fund, Alta Communications VII, L.P., is a $265 million fund with the same investment strategy as Alta Communications VI, L.P.

* Beacon Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beacon Capital Partners, makes targeted investments in real estate and related industries. Beacon Capital Partners is engaged in real estate investment and development activities. It currently owns a portfolio of 3.3 million square feet of commercial real estate with an additional 550,000 square feet under development. The firm is based in Boston with regional offices in Chicago and Los Angeles.

* Nassau Capital invests in private equity and real estate on behalf of Princeton University's $6.3 billion endowment. Nassau invests in a variety of investment vehicles and transaction types, including management buyouts, growth equity, recapitalizations and industry consolidations. Other Nassau portfolio companies in the communications industry include: KMC Telecom and Crown Castle International.

* Gramercy Communications Partners is a private-equity firm specializing in investments in the telecommunications industry. The firm is co-sponsored by Telefonica S.A. of Spain and ONEX Corporation of Canada. The management team is led by Laurence Grafstein (formerly with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.), and Mohamed Amersi, a European merger lawyer from Jones, Day, Reavis, & Pogue.

* AEW Partners III, L.P. is an investment partnership managed by AEW Capital Management, L.P. (AEW) on behalf of a group of institutional investors. AEW serves as investment advisor to institutional and private investors, including some of the nation's largest corporate, public and union pension funds, university endowments, and governmental entities. The firm focuses on high-yield equity investing, real estate securities portfolios (REITs, CMBS and private placements), and the acquisition and management of directly held property portfolios. On behalf of its clients, the firm currently manages approximately $6 billion of capital, which is invested in more than $9 billion of real estate nationwide.

* Transwestern Commercial Services, one of the country's largest privately held commercial real estate companies, specializes in corporate advisory, investment services, development, research, management and leasing services for office, industrial and retail projects. The company currently oversees 550 properties, representing more than 71 million square feet and comprising a portfolio valued in excess of $7.0 billion.

* Latona Cycom Investment, LLC is an investment vehicle formed by Latona Associates, Inc., a merchant banking firm. Latona's family of businesses include GenTek, Inc., and Prestolite Wire Corporation, which together offer a cabling system under the TrueNet(TM) brand that maximizes network bandwidth through specifically tuned high-performance cable and connectors. Latona's headquarters are in Hampton, New Hampshire with offices in London, England, the Czech Republic, Singapore, and Santiago, Chile.

For more information, please visit http://www.cypresscom.net or call Barry Boniface, Chief Financial Officer, at 404-869-2520.

CONTACT: Barry Boniface of Cypress Communications, 404-869-2520, or Bboniface@cypresscom.net