Cable & Wireless (NYSE: CWP) today filed a suit in U.S. District Court charging that Akamai Technologies, Inc. infringes on a newly issued content-delivery-network (CDN) patent, which covers ways to ensure that only the freshest information is served to Web sites and ways to optimize content storage by avoiding duplication of information in a CDN.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) on July 2 issued Cable & Wireless' U.S. Patent No. 6,415,280, which covers various content-delivery algorithms and systems. The suit charges that Akamai's CDN products, including EdgeSuite (formerly known as FreeFlow) and the Akamaizer tool used to prepare content so it can be accessed at the CDN, directly infringe on Cable & Wireless' new Patent '280.

"We believe EdgeSuite and other Akamai products infringe on our new CDN patent," said Chris Albinson, chief strategy officer for Exodus, a Cable & Wireless Service, the organization formed by the integration of Digital Island with the Exodus business. "We have attempted to get Akamai to acknowledge the broad scope of our intellectual property rights. Instead, they've responded with multiple lawsuits against us. Akamai has left us with no alternative but to assert our intellectual property rights against them to ensure that they obtain the proper licenses from us or cease offering the infringing products. We will vigorously protect our intellectual property assets for the benefit of our customers and our stockholders."

The new patent-infringement suit is one aspect of what is expected to be a multi-year effort to protect Cable & Wireless' intellectual property and defend its status as the first inventor of CDN technology. The company expects to continue to pursue patent protection covering its CDN technology with the PTO.

About Exodus, a Cable & Wireless Service
As of April 1, 2002, all hosting and content delivery services historically offered by Cable & Wireless, Digital Island and Exodus will be managed by one business division and marketed in the U.S. as Exodus, a Cable & Wireless Service and in the rest of the world as Cable & Wireless. Supported by Cable & Wireless' powerful global infrastructure and financial strength, the combined business is uniquely positioned to provide managed hosting and interactive web services for business customers.

About Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless is a major global telecommunications business with revenue of over £5.9 billion (US$8.6 billion) in the year to 31 March 2002 and customers in 70 countries. The company consists of two core and complementary divisions: Cable & Wireless Regional and Cable & Wireless Global. Cable & Wireless Regional offers a full range of telecommunications services in 33 countries around the world. Cable & Wireless Global's focus for future growth is on IP (Internet protocol) and data services and solutions for business customers. It has developed advanced IP networks and value-added services in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region in support of this strategy. With its financial strength and the capability of its global IP infrastructure, Cable & Wireless holds a unique position in terms of global coverage and services to business customers. For more information about Cable & Wireless, go to www.cw.com.