Canadian VoIP Provider Develops Innovative Services with MetaSwitch's Open IMS Applications Architecture

TORONTO, Ontario - VON Canada Conference & Expo: April 4, 2006. While many service providers look exclusively to external suppliers for new applications, Edmonton, Alberta-based ThinkTel Communications took a different approach. Realizing that true innovation would come from leveraging the latest trends in technology with its small-but-fast in-house development team, ThinkTel searched for a solution that combined flexible, open interfaces with a carrier-class platform for call control and signaling/media processing. The clear winner of the selection process was MetaSwitch, a leading vendor of IMS-ready switching and applications solutions.

"We looked at a number of softswitch and feature server providers, and it really came down to architecture and flexibility," said Dave Damer, founder, president and CEO of ThinkTel. "We wanted to develop our own SIP-based applications and MetaSwitch had the most open environment for developing those applications. MetaSwitch provides the rock-solid core of our network and a consistent, easy to manage interface for us to deliver the applications that talk to the world."

ThinkTel was founded as a pure-IP company, delivering VoIP-based services initially via a network of media gateways with limited functionality. The move to MetaSwitch, which supports open access to the call processing flow and subscriber database via IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-compliant interfaces, has enabled ThinkTel to innovate rapidly, achieving a four-fold increase in productivity. Since deploying MetaSwitch, ThinkTel has developed and deployed a range of new services including hosted Voice over IP, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, voicemail, and conferencing. All of these applications are built on ThinkTel's proprietary integrated provisioning and billing system, linked directly to the MetaSwitch Class 4/5 softswitch, enabling ThinkTel to completely automate its service delivery process from order to invoice. The result: increased revenues and customer satisfaction, without growing operations or support personnel.

Over the next year, ThinkTel plans to install another MetaSwitch system in eastern Canada. It also plans to deploy two additional systems for expansion into the United States where it will offer IVR, voicemail, VoIP termination, and voice marketing solutions.

"For customers like ThinkTel that have embraced the all-IP world of next-generation communications, MetaSwitch is an ideal solution because it offers an open applications environment that enables customers to quickly develop and deliver new SIP-based services - from conferencing to 'triple play'," said Mike Ward, MetaSwitch Senior Vice President of Sales. "We are pleased to help support the growth of one of Canada's leading providers of voice solutions."

MetaSwitch is exhibiting this week at VON Canada (booth #204) in Toronto. On Tuesday, April 4 at 4:15pm, John Lazar, MetaSwitch CEO, will present an "Industry Perspective" on the societal trends fueling changes in the communications industry. In addition, Paul Drew, director of product management for MetaSwitch, is speaking on a panel entitled "Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Bringing it All Together" on Wednesday, April 5 at 2:00pm.

About ThinkTel Communications

ThinkTel is the leading provider of IP-based voice solutions to the Canadian marketplace. With a coast to coast network enabled by MetaSwitch and advanced SIP-based applications, ThinkTel delivers turnkey solutions to carriers, ISPs, cable operators and utility telcos. Hosted Voice over IP, IVR, voicemail systems, conferencing, as well as provisioning and billing systems are just a few of ThinkTel's available enterprise solutions. For more information on ThinkTel Communications visit www.thinktel.ca.

About MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch (www.metaswitch.com) is an industry-leading vendor of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) switching and applications solutions for both packet and circuit-switched networks. Its widely deployed call agent, media/signaling gateway and application server platform supports a full range of legacy Class 4/5 capabilities and hosted unified communications services, and scales from a few hundred to millions of subscribers in both integrated and distributed configurations. Customers include incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers, as well as operators of broadband wireless, cable and fiber networks.

MetaSwitch is a division of established telecom technology provider Data Connection. The company is consistently profitable and privately held, with main US offices in California and Virginia, and European headquarters in London, UK.