MetaSwitch Hosts First Users' Conference

MetaSwitch Hosts First Users' Conference

 

San Francisco, CA: April 7, 2004. Responding to the growing success of its next generation Class 5 switch platform, MetaSwitch today announced the successful conclusion of "MetaSwitch Forum 2004," a 2-day inaugural conference for MetaSwitch customers held in San Francisco. Attended by over 50 delegates from more than 25 companies, the Forum was the first time that so many MetaSwitch users had gathered in one place to discuss the company's strategy and also put in place the structure for an ongoing users' group.

The MetaSwitch Users' Group elected Donny Smith of Owatonna, Minnesota-based Jaguar Communications as its first chairman. Other board members include Jawaid Bazyar of foreThought.net (Colorado), Don Eller of Yukon Telephone (Alaska), Kidd Filby of Arrival Communications (California) and Steve Gelmis of Public Interest Network Services, Inc. (New York). Service providers represented at the conference, and now members of the Users' Group, include independent telephone companies, competitive local exchange carriers (both primarily facilities-based and those migrating from the UNE-P resale model), and cable network operators.

"Given MetaSwitch's unique strengths as the first true broadband-capable Class 5 softswitch, almost all the users are at the forefront of some exciting next generation deployments," said Smith. "As a result, all the attendees benefited from the Forum to learn from each other, as well as hearing in detail from MetaSwitch's executive team about their vision for the future. I think I speak for the whole group in saying we are very excited about the industry leadership position MetaSwitch is taking, and the new services and network architectures they will be enabling us to deploy over the coming months."

"The first users' forum is a milestone in any company's growth trajectory," said John Lazar, MetaSwitch CEO. "We were extremely pleased that so many of our customers were able to attend the conference, and we look forward to making the MetaSwitch Forum a regular event."

During the conference, MetaSwitch revealed upcoming significant enhancements to both its hardware and software platform, as well as interoperability with a wide range of partner equipment. Live application demonstrations included fiber-to-the-home "triple-play," Broadband Voice over Internet, IP Centrex services with SIP phones and IP-based integrated access devices and extensions to the company's Web Self-care package to support management of business groups by a subscriber's own administrator.

With more than 40 deployments, MetaSwitch's VP3500 is North America's leading broadband-enabled Class 5 softswitch, and the only switch accepted by the federal Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for Class 5 over Voice over IP (VoIP). With over 100 Class 5 features, support for legacy interfaces such as GR-303 and PRI, and built-in Voice over Broadband, MetaSwitch offers an ideal solution for migrating legacy networks to a next generation architecture, as well as "greenfield" deployments.

About MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch, a division of privately held Data Connection, is the result of over 20 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, Reston, VA, and Tampa, FL in the US and London, Chester, and Edinburgh in the UK

For more information, see www.metaswitch.com.