Covad and CICAT Provide Business-Class Broadband to Retail Industry's Leading Players

Covad Communications Group, Inc. (AMEX:DVW), a leading national provider of integrated voice and data communications, joins its largest Covad Authorized Sales Agent, CICAT Networks, a Virginia-based telecommunications service provider to enterprises, to provide industry-leading solutions to some of the nation’s largest retailers. Covad and CICAT will attend the National Retail Federation (NRF) 96th Annual Conference & EXPO, January 14 - 17, 2007 in New York City to provide customer success stories and demonstrate their solutions. "Covad has a proven track record of success in serving the communications needs of the retail industry and is very pleased to partner with CICAT to provide high-speed, highly-reliable broadband services to these customers,” said Timothy Gaines, Covad senior vice president of sales. "As the only nationwide, facilities-based broadband provider in the U.S., Covad is well-suited to meeting the needs of multi-location enterprises, such as retailers and restaurant chains that operate across the country.” Covad and CICAT’s retail customers have similar requirements: to enable faster sales and new applications, without dramatically increasing network costs. Covad’s business-class broadband solutions meet those needs by providing higher bandwidth and business-class reliability backed by strong service quality commitments. Covad’s nationwide network and CICAT’s network services together provide broadband capabilities to over 90 percent of CICAT’s retail customers’ locations. "Together, Covad and CICAT continue to be proven leaders in the retail space,” said Brad Wise, CICAT’s president and CEO. "The range of business-class solutions and services that Covad and CICAT collaboratively provide enable our customers to operate at an optimal level, bringing broadband capabilities to the forefront of their voice and data communications.” Covad, a top choice among channel partners serving retailers and other distributed enterprises, allows agents to offer best-in-class DSL and T1 capabilities, as well as voice solutions. As a Covad Sales Agent, CICAT has access to Covad’s all-in-one resource center with a complete online order-management system, which includes comprehensive and targeted sales and technical training. An additional benefit of partnering with Covad is the ease and cost-effectiveness of the voice solution installation as voice products can be offered to customers as a fully-hosted solution or in combination with on-premises equipment. About Covad Covad is a leading nationwide provider of integrated voice and data communications. The company offers DSL, Voice Over IP, T1, Web hosting, managed security, IP and dial-up, and bundled voice and data services directly through Covad's network and through Internet Service Providers, value-added resellers, telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to small and medium-sized businesses and home users. Covad broadband services are currently available across the nation in 44 states and 235 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and can be purchased by more than 57 million homes and businesses, which represent over 50 percent of all US homes and businesses. Corporate headquarters is located at 110 Rio Robles San Jose, CA 95134. Telephone: 1-888-GO-COVAD. Web Site: www.covad.com. About CICAT Networks CICAT is the trusted, independent single-source provider of telecommunications and network services to enterprises. CICAT enables its customers to work with one partner, while paving the way for new broadband-enabled business applications, including Customer Relationship Management and other revenue-generating, productivity-enhancing applications. Corporate headquarters is located at 3975 Fair Ridge Drive, Suite 350 South, Fairfax, VA, 22030. Telephone: 1-800-988-4736. Web Site: www.cicat.com.