MetaSwitch appoints Senior Vice President of Sales

Alameda, CA: January 21, 2004. MetaSwitch, the leading provider of next generation broadband voice switch solutions, today announced that Michael Ward has joined its executive team as Senior Vice President of Sales. In this role, Michael will be responsible for driving MetaSwitch's business success, building on the company's existing strong position with more than 40 deployments of its VP3500 Next Generation Class 5 Switch.

With more than 16 years of Sales leadership in the telecom and networking industries, Michael Ward brings a wealth of experience to the MetaSwitch organization. Most recently, he led Paradyne Networks' successful effort to increase its customer base and revenue in the North American independent telco market, while also developing global Tier 1 and strategic carrier accounts. Prior to Paradyne, he built North American Sales for Corvis Corporation, leading to their successful IPO. Michael is also widely recognized for the role he played in the success of Ascend Communications, both before and after its acquisition by Lucent Technologies, where he drove an emerging service provider business that resulted in over $1bn in annual sales.

Michael, who is based in Tampa, Florida, has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, and an MS in Engineering Management from the University of South Florida.

Commenting on his reasons for joining the company, Michael said: "What initially attracted me was the opportunity to help MetaSwitch grow and prosper from the strong base they have created. More importantly, I have also come to realize that MetaSwitch's accomplishments are no accident, but the product of an exceptionally talented and focused management team."

Michael's arrival enables John Lazar, who has been fulfilling the role of VP of Sales and Marketing, to step up as MetaSwitch CEO. Ian Ferguson, founder of MetaSwitch and parent company Data Connection, remains Chairman.

"We are excited that Michael has agreed to join MetaSwitch," Ian said. "With his proven ability to create and lead world class sales teams, we are looking forward to him being a catalyst for our continued success. His appointment demonstrates not only our ambition, but also our commitment to the next-generation voice switching arena."

About MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch, a division of privately held Data Connection, is the result of 22 years of experience supplying leading-edge technology to the telecommunications industry. Data Connection’s track record of consistent profitability ensures long-term commitment to product development and customer support. The widely deployed MetaSwitch VP3500 Next Generation Class 5 Switch offers service providers an immediate solution for broadband (VoIP and/or VoATM) and POTS service and a future-proof "softswitch" architecture for enhanced applications.

MetaSwitch has offices in Alameda, CA, Dallas, TX and Reston, VA in the US and London, Chester and Edinburgh in the UK.

For more information, see www.metaswitch.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.