Metaswitch Innovators Community an Instant Success

SUPERCOMM 2009, Chicago, October 21, 2009 — Only six months after Metaswitch Networks formed the Metaswitch Innovators Community, more than 500 people from 200 companies have joined the program and quickly generated applications that process billing records, improve Web-based customer service and enhance diagnostic reporting.

The Metaswitch Innovators Community is uniquely positioned as a social networking site for VoIP application development. The site is built to promote constant interaction between Metaswitch engineers, customers and third party developers, where members share in-depth technical information and experiences, APIs, completed code and applications, interactive tutorials, evaluation tools, blogs and discussion forums.

"This was never about granting limited access to a few APIs and some of our documentation," said John Lazar, CEO of Metaswitch. "What we have done in fact is to give direct access to the Metaswitch engineering team and our community of collaborative third parties, creating a highly focused, social networking environment. As a result, the level of interaction, learning and output has been staggering."

New York competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) Public Interest Network Services (PINS) is typical of the community members. PINS posted open source code that allows Metaswitch administrators to aggregate diagnostic call logs so that they can be parsed quickly and easily.

"Whether through the annual Forum events, User Group, or more regional meetings, I think every Metaswitch customer feels part of a strong community," said David Birnbaum, CEO for PINS. "The Innovators Community extends that feeling online, and enables true collaboration – with real benefits for the business bottom line, and for subscribers who gain new applications. It really is a win-win-win."

Neil Collins, director of the Innovators Community at Metaswitch, adds, "With the Metaswitch Innovators Community, we are taking the relationship between the vendor and the customer to the next level... We're not working together as a simple commercial relationship, but rather as a community."

See Neil and other collaborators in a video overview: www.metaswitch.com/Innovators.

About Metaswitch Networks

Metaswitch Networks is a leading provider of carrier systems and software solutions that are powering the migration of communications networks to open, packet-based architectures. Hundreds of network operators worldwide depend on its Carrier Systems Division for reliable, scalable session control, media gateway and application/feature server solutions to enable compelling revenue-generating services. Its Network Protocols Division develops high performance, portable software components that are integrated into the products of the world's leading communications equipment manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.metaswitch.com.