[August 31, 2000]

TollBridge, Interspeed Facilitate Deployment Of Voice Over DSL Technology For Small Businesses In The MTU Market

TollBridge Technologies, Inc. and Interspeed, Inc. have entered into a marketing agreement to facilitate delivery of IP-based voice services to providers of broadband voice and data services in the Multi-Tenant Unit (MTU) market.

"The goal of this partnership is to assure fully interoperable voice-over-DSL (VoDSL) solutions -- utilizing ATM quality of service over DSL access networks -- by best-of-breed product suppliers for our customers on behalf of their customers," said Agnes Imregh, TollBridge vice president of marketing. "Such interoperability creates the broad ramp over which product and service providers can meet and exceed the needs of network users," Ms. Imregh stated. TollBridge and Interspeed successfully concluded interoperability testing of their respective products last April.

The joint marketing effort incorporates Interspeed's SolutionXpert program, which facilitates and shortens time-to-market for integrated solutions that are interoperable with Interspeed's market-leading EdgeSpeed DSL access routers. Among such products are customer premise equipment (CPE) and integrated access devices (IADs). SolutionXpert is supported by Interspeed's MarketXpert program which helps to identify prospects for these integrated solutions and facilitates "pull-through" in sales opportunities.

"Interspeed's SolutionXpert program seeks to integrate solutions that, when combined with Interspeed's EdgeSpeed access routers, create turnkey solutions for our customers, enabling them in turn to offer a wide range of enhanced services," said Ken Osowski, Interspeed's vice president of marketing and product management. "The TollBridge/Interspeed combination lets service providers, for the first time, provide toll-quality voice services to small- and medium-sized businesses while bypassing the local exchange carrier (LEC) throughout a service region. This new architecture for voice services opens up tremendous market opportunities for business-centric service providers and can substantially improve their return on investment in DSL technology," Mr. Osowski continued.

Interspeed's EdgeSpeed DSL access routers are used increasingly by service providers to deliver IP-based broadband services for web e-commerce, streaming video and backup/recovery as well as voice-over-DSL applications. Since these applications require integration among networking solution components, the streamlining of such integration becomes an important time-to-market benefit, Ms. Imregh said.

Interspeed's "single-box" DSL solution integrates IP functionality that is scalable from a single subscriber to thousands in one access router. Its product family includes the EdgeSpeed 1000 for high-density CO applications; the EdgeSpeed 800 for medium-density CO and MTU applications in a smaller 19-inch rack; the EdgeSpeed 500 for medium-density CO and high-density MTU applications; and EdgeSpeed DART, an integrated solution for the MTU marketplace. Each product platform includes complete DSLAM functionality, Layer 2 switching, IP routing (Layer 3), and virtual private network (VPN) functions. Each product also incorporates an access concentrator, intelligent switch/router core, DSU/CSU and network management software.

Designed for LEC bypass, the TollBridge product set consists of three elements: TB50, an Integrated Access Device (IAD) that converts voice samples from multiple calls into a single IP packet and prioritizes voice and data traffic for transmission over any broadband access network; TB200, a carrier-grade Local Exchange Gateway that translates packets back into voice and connects to Class 5 switches using the Bellcore GR-303 protocol and new emerging protocols such as SIP and MGCP; TollView Management Suite, which includes a graphical Element Management System (EMS) for end-to-end configuration, troubleshooting, and performance management of up to 100 TB200 systems from HP OpenView on SUN Solaris platforms.

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