MetaSwitch Press Release: CableLabs® Summer Conference showcases packet voice solution from Intel, MetaSwitch and Spirent

Alameda, CA: August 15, 2002. MetaSwitch, together with Intel and Spirent, this week demonstrated a complete end-to-end solution designed for PacketCable™ networks. The demonstration at the CableLabs® Summer Conference 2002 in Keystone, Colorado, showed how service providers can deliver multiple toll-quality telephone lines over HFC networks.

Show attendees made calls to the PSTN from regular telephone handsets over an Internet Protocol (IP), packet-based cable network. Highlighted in this demonstration were:

"We are particularly pleased that our collaboration with Intel and Spirent has shown that this technology is real and deployable today," said John Lazar, Vice President of MetaSwitch Sales and Marketing. "Cable vendors can easily deliver reliable, high-quality packet voice services to generate additional revenues from their previously under-utilized cable network, without having to invest in expensive legacy Class 5 switches - or rely on unproven softswitch implementations."

Announced at SuperComm 2002, the MetaSwitch VP3500 is based on the company's proven next generation switching technology. It is the industry's only Next Generation Class 5 Switch capable of simultaneously supporting legacy telecom access protocols, voice over ATM, and voice over IP. In a PacketCable environment, it employs CableLabs' Network-based Call Signaling (NCS).

MetaSwitch develops and manufactures advanced voice switching solutions for service providers - right at the heart of the converged network. MetaSwitch's flagship product, the VP3500, is a Next Generation Class 5 Switch that integrates broadband (VoIP and VoATM) and legacy (POTS) voice access with Class 5 softswitch function and more than fifty subscriber services in a compact, fault-tolerant system.

MetaSwitch is a division of Data Connection (DCL), an established and financially stable communications technology provider with a twenty-year track record of success working with major service providers and equipment vendors. MetaSwitch builds on the powerful foundation created by Data Connection, pulling together its massive ongoing investment in the technology required to build converged network solutions (ATM, SS7, MPLS, MGCP/H.248, IP Routing, SIP...) and new revenue-generating services (unified messaging, data/audio/video conferencing, directory services).

MetaSwitch and Data Connection have offices in Alameda (California), Dallas (Texas), Reston (Virginia), and Enfield (North London), Chester and Edinburgh in the UK. Visit the MetaSwitch website at www.metaswitch.com.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Spirent Communications is a worldwide provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems for next-generation network technologies. Spirent's solutions accelerate the profitable development and deployment of network equipment and services by emulating real-world conditions in the lab and assuring end-to-end performance of large-scale networks. www.spirentcom.com

Spirent Communications is a wholly owned subsidiary of Spirent plc, an international network technology company. Spirent plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT). The company is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209). www.spirent.com

Data Connection and MetaSwitch are trademarks of Data Connection Limited and Data Connection Corporation. Brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Press Release: CableLabs® Summer Conference showcases packet voice solution from Intel, MetaSwitch and Spirent

Leading vendors join forces to demonstrate live voice calls over PacketCable network