Chicago Board Options Exchange Uses SAVVIS Financial Xchange IP VPN To Offer Pre-Opening Options Trading Through CBOEdirect - CBOE Uses SAVVIS IP VPN And Internet For Extended Hours Trading, Single Stock Futures And Options Information Portal

SAVVIS Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SVVS), the leading network services provider to the global financial markets, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the world's largest options exchange, announced yesterday that SAVVIS has successfully deployed an IP virtual private network (VPN) to support CBOEdirectTM, an innovative screen-based trading solution for extended hours trading. The SAVVIS IP VPN supports current CBOEdirect market makers, broker-dealers, and trading firms and will be further expanded later this year as CBOEdirect becomes the match engine for OneChicago, LLC, the joint venture between CBOE, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) for trading single-stock futures and narrow-based indices. CBOE further announced that it would continue to use SAVVIS Internet service to support CBOE.com, the premier portal for options information.

CBOEdirect replicates CBOE's trading floor on a computer screen, with liquidity providers making two-sided, continuous markets. The system is the culmination of many years of planning, research, development, and programming all conducted in-house by CBOE. Launched October 2001, CBOEdirect offers pre-opening options trading from 7:00 AM to 8:15 AM (Central Time) of the Dow Jones Industrial AverageSM Index (DJX), the S&P100® Index (OEX and XEOSM), and the Russell 2000® Index (RUT). In January 2002, OneChicago, which will operate exclusively as an electronic exchange, selected CBOEdirect as its match engine based on the platform's state-of-the-art technology and scalability to accommodate future needs.

"SAVVIS delivered 99.999% uptime for CBOE.com for over one year, and it was this proven track record as a dependable Internet service provider that was a key factor in selecting them to provide managed network services for CBOEdirect, our new screen-based trading platform," said Gerald T. O'Connell, executive vice president and chief information officer at CBOE. "We evaluated SAVVIS against the big name network providers and found their Financial XchangeSM services offered the broadest connectivity in the financial services industry and their dedication to customer service was superior."

SAVVIS Financial XchangeSM is unique in the industry in that it combines secure and reliable VPNs, managed hosting, and business-quality Internet access all tailored to meet the unique requirements of the financial services industry. Financial XchangeSM services connect to 4,700 financial institutions enabling businesses to quickly and easily do business with a network of financial companies. CBOE is using SAVVIS Financial XchangeSM to offer two types of connections to CBOEdirect. The first connection is via a private extranet which offers users security, reliability, and the ability to assign each application its own quality of service all on a single local loop. The second type of connection is via SAVVIS' Internet service, which has consistently been rated as a top performing Internet service for business. CBOE expects that 300-400 sites will eventually connect to CBOEdirect using SAVVIS Financial XchangeSM.

"The Chicago Board Options Exchange is an industry leader in trading technology and innovation," said Jack Finlayson, president of SAVVIS. "We are pleased that SAVVIS, known as "The Network that Powers Wall StreetSM," is now established on LaSalle Street as the network solutions provider for CBOE."