Liz Claiborne Inc. Chooses AboveNet, Inc. for Private Optical Network

NEW YORK, September 16, 2003 – AboveNet, Inc., the leading provider of unconstrained information exchange services, announced today that it has contracted with Liz Claiborne Inc. for the installation of a private optical fiber network. Liz Claiborne Inc. will use the network for accessing systems within its NY/NJ metropolitan campus, as well as in support of its IP telephony, disaster recovery and data backup.

AboveNet will connect Liz Claiborne Inc.’s offices in New York and New Jersey using a private, secure and unshared optical network. In addition to providing high speed access to its systems, this private network will allow Liz Claiborne Inc. to back up its data real-time, establishing a failover disaster recovery environment. This private fiber network will provide the Company virtually unlimited capacity at a fraction of the cost of traditional telecom services. It also will increase the company’s ability to deploy new and cutting edge applications without the additional bandwidth cost typically associated with this upgrade .

“AboveNet offers enterprise customers like Liz Claiborne the ability to add a new layer of disaster preparedness with the additional benefit of having full control of bandwidth allocation and provisioning,” said John Gerdelman, president and chief executive officer the AboveNet, Inc. “Liz Claiborne is a company that places high demands on its IT infrastructure to keep up. We are pleased they have chosen us as the solution to meet their current needs and enable them to expand without interruption."

“This agreement is part of a company-wide initiative to drive growth and increase efficiencies through the strategic use of technology,” said John Kovac, vice president, information technology at Liz Claiborne Inc. “Using AboveNet’s private optical network solution, we are able to deploy new applications and create a secure, redundant environment at a lower cost and without the capacity constraints of traditional telecommunications options.”

About AboveNet, Inc.
AboveNet, Inc. is the leading provider of network infrastructure services that enable unconstrained information exchange within and between businesses. AboveNet builds and operates an office-to-office, 100-percent optical network enabling customers to create an efficient, cost-effective network that breaks economic and performance barriers imposed in the last mile by complex legacy telecom infrastructures. With the most extensive metropolitan optical network in the world, data centers throughout the US and Europe, top quality managed services and a high-performance IP network, AboveNet is able to offer the most flexible and complete information exchange solutions in the industry.

An aggressive and agile player in the industry, AboveNet provides security, performance, scalability and reliability in a wealth of interconnected services designed to facilitate information exchange. The Company’s metropolitan fiber network provides the foundation for its offerings. This all optical metropolitan network, combined with AboveNet’s portfolio of integrated solutions, enable enterprise customers to rise above legacy networks to create truly customized networks that enable the real-time information exchange when and how it is needed.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause or contribute to such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, and various other factors beyond the Company's control. This also includes such factors as are described from time to time in the SEC reports filed by Metromedia Fiber Network including the most recently filed Forms S-3, 10-K and 10-Q.