Qwest Signs Multimillion Dollar Contract to Provide Allina Hospitals and Clinics with Voice and Data Services

With Qwest's GeoMax service, Allina is connecting four majormetropolitan hospitals, seven regional hospitals and 43 clinics forvoice and data services. The redundancy and high-speed bandwidthoffered by this service allows Allina to efficiently deliver automatedrecord and diagnostic imaging capabilities to patients and providersin Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Additionally, Allina will be ableto centralize voicemail services, call management, interactive voiceresponse (IVR), and dictation applications, as well as eliminatecall-center boundaries.

"Given the highly sensitive data our organization works with on adaily basis, it was critical to find a reputable service provider thatwould allow our hospitals and clinics to gain secure access to patientrecords as soon as they're needed," said David Lind, I.S. director ofAllina Hospitals & Clinics. "Qwest will also help us reduce I.T. costsby converging voice and data services."

"The Qwest relationship with Allina has been extremely successfulso far, and we look forward to continue providing them with thehigh-quality tools required to meet patient needs and better optimizetheir overall network," said Tom Richards, executive vice president,business markets group for Qwest. "With Qwest, customers can easilyblend traditional voice services with next-generation technology tomake a solution that's right for their business."

Allina Hospitals & Clinics is a not-for-profit system ofhospitals, clinics and other health care services. The organization's23,000 employees, 5,000 physicians and 2,500 volunteers are dedicatedto meeting the lifelong health care needs of communities throughoutMinnesota and western Wisconsin.

About Qwest

Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q), through itsoperating subsidiaries, is a leading provider of high-speed Internet,data, video and voice services. With nearly 40,000 employees, Qwest iscommitted to the "Spirit of Service" and providing world-classservices that exceed customers' expectations for quality, value andreliability. For more information, please visit the Qwest Web site atwww.qwest.com.

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