Hilbert space compression and exactness of discrete groups

We show that the Hilbert space compression of any (unbounded) finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex is 1 and deduce that any finitely generated group acting property, co-compactly on a CAT(0) cube complex is exact, and hence has Yu's Property A. The class of groups covered by this theorem includes free groups, finitely generated Coxeter groups, finitely generated right angled Artin groups, finitely presented groups satisfying the B(4)-T(4) small cancellation condition and all those word-hyperbolic groups satisfying the B(6) condition. Another family of examples is provided by certain canonical surgeries defined by link diagrams. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.