Nuera Receives MetaSwitch H.248 Interoperability Certification

San Diego, CA: June 5, 2006. Nuera Communications, an industry leading provider of carrier-class VoIP infrastructure solutions, today announced that its BTX-8 media gateway has received interoperability certification with MetaSwitch's Class 4/5 Softswitch. The joint solution builds on open IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) standards and is primarily targeted at competitive service providers, cable operators and incumbent local exchange carriers.

The combination of Nuera's BTX-8 media gateways and MetaSwitch's switching and applications platform is especially cost effective. The BTX-8 enables service providers to geographically disperse the media gateway for connecting to the PSTN in locations that are remote from the location of the softswitch. Utilizing the H.248 call control protocol, as used by IMS and PacketCable™ Release 2, the MetaSwitch softswitch and BTX-8 media gateway provide robust voice processing features that enable migration from TDM-based POTS to VoIP converged networks based on IMS standards.

"The BTX-8 is a field-hardened platform that has been deployed in cable VoIP networks for years. With the addition of H.248 and MetaSwitch interoperability, this platform provides an excellent solution for applications requiring four to 16 T1s per chassis," said Larry Greenstein, director of product management at Nuera Communications.

"Nuera has an established presence among cable operators, while MetaSwitch is well known as a leading vendor in the wireline telco market. This partnership therefore allows both vendors to extend their market reach while delivering a cost-effective alternative to our existing customers," said Andy Randall, vice president of marketing at MetaSwitch.

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.

About Nuera

Nuera Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure solutions that work over any medium (cable, wireless, copper and fiber). The Open, Reliable Communications Architecture (ORCA) product portfolio helps carriers and cable operators worldwide migrate from legacy networks to next-generation VoIP networks. Nuera stands out as a leader in the broadband telephony market and helps define industry standards.

On May 16, 2006 Nuera Communications signed an agreement to be acquired by AudioCodes Ltd. (AUDC). The transaction, expected to close by the end of the second quarter, would make Nuera a wholly owned subsidiary of AudioCodes.