NMS and MetaSwitch Announce Extension of Strategic Alliance for MetaSwitch VP3000 Integrated Broadband Voice Platform

NMS and MetaSwitch Announce Extension of Strategic Alliance for MetaSwitch VP3000 Integrated Broadband Voice Platform 

 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. & ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2000--Service Providers to Generate New Value-added Bundled VoDSL Services Without Additional Capital Outlays for Class 5 Switches 


 Natural MicroSystems (NASDAQ:NMSS), the technology leader enabling a new era of communications, and MetaSwitch, the provider of fully packaged, flexible and fault-tolerant products to service providers building converged network solutions, today announced an extension of their strategic alliance whereby MetaSwitch is now using NMS broadband access and voice processing hardware in its MetaSwitch VP3000, the first in a new product category: the integrated Broadband Voice Platform (BVP). The VP3000 allows service providers to offer profitable voice-over-DSL (VoDSL) services--alongside broadband Internet access--using a single pair of copper wires, leveraging their existing packet backbone networks to carry long distance voice.

MetaSwitch will feature its VP3000 at this week's Next Generation Network conference in Washington, DC (Booth #708).

 The MetaSwitch VP3000 combines broadband voice and Class 5 switch functions in a high-capacity, carrier-class system. It offers service providers an immediate solution for their VoDSL switching requirements--without requiring investments in legacy Class 5 switches--while exploiting their existing packet backbones to bypass long distance charges. The MetaSwitch VP3000 incorporates high performance Signaling System 7 (SS7) connectivity to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). As well as meeting the immediate VoDSL requirement, the MetaSwitch VP3000 is also a cost-effective evolutionary platform for next-generation broadband voice services (including wireless and cable) and Softswitch/VoIP architectures that leverage investment in existing VP3000 hardware.

 "The market for Voice-over-DSL is starting to take off, with deployments by CLECs and ILECs expected to exceed 1 million lines by 2003" said Pat Hurley, DSL Analyst at TeleChoice, Inc. "Solutions like that offered by MetaSwitch can help service providers rapidly deploy voice services without investing in a costly Class 5 switch infrastructure, while providing an upgrade path for future packetized voice backbones."

 The MetaSwitch VP3000 supports DS3 scale broadband access with compression and echo cancellation. These capabilities are afforded by four key high capacity products from NMS:

 -- ArTeMux(TM) networking adapters, which provide exclusive ASIC based, high-capacity voice switching and TDM to ATM AAL2 voice traffic conversion--bridging the gap between current and next-generation telephony networks.

 -- The HYPER-T3 DS-3/STS-1 broadband access adapter, honored with a Best of Show award at CT Expo 2000 in Los Angeles

 -- Its companion product, the BASIS resource module adapter with SQUEEZ (compression) and ECHO (echo cancellation) plug-in voice processing resource modules

 -- The award-winning Alliance Generation(R) (AG) 4000 Series of digital signal processor (DSP) and digital PSTN Interfaces

 "The current generation of NMS hardware products are key components of the MetaSwitch VP3000 product, where they provide the core ATM and TDM connectivity to access backbone and trunk networks, plus DSP resources for DTMF tone detection/generation and conferencing," said John Palombo, VP of MetaSwitch development. "Just as importantly, we've been working very closely with NMS on specifications for upcoming generations of hardware - which are key to our product roadmap going forward."

 Michel Laurence, vice president and general manager of NMS' New Network Access group, said "MetaSwitch and NMS are committed to leading the way in capacity and high availability. I am very pleased about this expansion of our partnership, because by working together, we are enjoying the benefits of more effective product development, which has accelerated the availability of end-to-end broadband packet solutions for telecommunications service providers."

 About MetaSwitch and Data Connection

MetaSwitch was formed by Data Connection (DCL) to build best-of-breed solutions for Voice-over-DSL and other broadband voice requirements, based on the unrivaled software and hardware experience, expertise and technology that Data Connection has built up over nearly twenty profitable years supplying the most demanding Service Provider and equipment vendor customers.

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, SCTP and SIP), and new revenue-generating services (directory, unified messaging, data/audio/video conferencing). The MetaSwitch support and customer management infrastructure taps right into the deep reservoir of professionalism and experience Data Connection has developed by helping its large strategic customers deliver successful products and services.

 The MetaSwitch Group and Data Connection have offices in Alameda (California), Reston (Virginia), and Enfield (North London), Chester and Edinburgh in the UK. For information, email contact@metaswitch.com, call 510-748-8230, or visit http://www.\b metaswitch\b0 .com.

 About Natural MicroSystems

 Natural MicroSystems (NASDAQ: NMSS) is the technology leader making it possible for the world's top networking and communication equipment suppliers to create and accelerate communications infrastructure and services. The Framingham, MA company designs, develops and supplies network-quality hardware and software components and provides design and customization services that are enabling a new era of communications.

 Deployed in more than 65 countries, NMS' products and technologies are at the foundation of today's high-value communications systems, including network-based enhanced service platforms, media and access gateways, media servers, voice portals, web-enabled call centers, unified messaging platforms and wireless networks. NMS has a long history of technology innovations that advance the rapid growth of the communications industry worldwide, including breakthroughs such as the first complete open IP gateway, the first complete open packet media server and leadership in bringing open, scalable CompactPCI to the telecommunications industry. More information about NMS is available at http://www.nmss.com.

 Natural MicroSystems and ArTeMux are trademarks and Alliance Generation is a registered trademark of Natural MicroSystems Corporation. MetaSwitch is a trademark of Data Connection. All other product or corporate references are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.