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Global Crossing Introduces Carrier VoIP Outbound Service in EuropeLONDON, May 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Crossing today announced the introduction of Carrier VoIP Outbound Service in Europe, and that it is providing the service to Hellas On Line, a Greek Internet service provider (ISP) offering Internet-based services, including telephony and unified messaging, Internet connectivity, and value-added and content services, to consumers and enterprises. Hellas On Line took advantage of Global Crossing's full, pre-sale interoperability testing to validate the service performance across different equipment before fully interconnecting. This allowed the interconnection to progress smoothly, avoiding the problem of discovering incompatible equipment during installation. Global Crossing offers pre-sale interoperability testing to all potential Carrier VoIP Outbound customers to ensure equipment compatibility. "Using Global Crossing's VoIP Outbound service enables us to terminate IP traffic worldwide without the need for us to invest in expensive VoIP to TDM conversion gear or TDM ports for traffic hand-off," said Apostolos Koukouvinos, Hellas On Line's general manager. "Hellas On Line was the first Greek ISP to introduce a VoIP telephony service in Greece, and we are delighted to provide our subscribers with Global Crossing's excellent level of support and quality of service that is as good as traditional TDM. We're very pleased to be working with Global Crossing to provide our customers with international call termination." "The launch of Carrier VoIP Outbound is a key evolution toward delivering true voice and data convergence to our customers in Europe and around the globe," said Anthony Christie, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer. "We're continuing with our strong pace of voice, video and data services innovation and will continue to roll out additional VoIP services and features during 2005." Advancing its leadership in worldwide VoIP services, Global Crossing's Carrier VoIP Outbound Service provides wholesale IP interconnection, transport and call completion of packet-based voice traffic over Global Crossing's network and is a significant step towards delivering Global Crossing's portfolio of VoIP services in Europe. Global Crossing's Carrier VoIP Outbound service is now available to customers in Europe and North America, with other regions to follow. By facilitating the direct communication of IP networks, Global Crossing Carrier VoIP Outbound Service enables VoIP service providers to leverage their own VoIP network investment and extend their international service reach. The service also enables traditional carrier customers to migrate to an all IP environment, realizing operational savings on conversion equipment between IP and TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) networking environments. Global Crossing's Carrier VoIP Outbound Service is available using three different access methods. Customers can choose to connect either through Global Crossing IP VPN Service(TM), IP Transit service or via the public Internet. The three access options allow customers to match Quality of Service levels to their requirements. The latter option also allows customers worldwide, beyond Global Crossing's network reach, to cost-effectively connect to the VoIP Outbound service using any public Internet connection for termination of traffic to any telephone in the world. Security is a key feature of Carrier VoIP Outbound service and Global Crossing has deployed session border controllers (SBCs) to provide a secure interconnection point that protects both Global Crossing's and the customer's networks from each other. High performance is guaranteed because traffic is carried over the Global Crossing MPLS private backbone. This minimizes packet loss, jitter and latency to give the requisite service quality demanded by voice and other real time applications. As the VoIP network is fully integrated with the TDM network, the Carrier VoIP Outbound service benefits from the highly competitive feature set of Global Crossing's entire suite of services and helps to make the migration of customers and suppliers to VoIP seamless. Global Crossing's launch of VoIP Outbound service in Europe is the latest addition to Global Crossing's wholesale VoIP services portfolio. Global Crossing was an early adopter of VoIP, having deployed its global VoIP platform more than four years ago. The VoIP network currently transports over 2 billion minutes per month and approximately 52 percent of all minutes in the first quarter of 2005 were VoIP. ABOUT HELLAS ON LINE Hellas On Line, the first private Greek Internet Service Provider, was founded in 1993. Since 2002, Hellas On Line has been a member of the EFG Eurobank Ergasias Group of companies, one of the leading banking groups in Greece and the wider Balkans area. EFG holds 100% of the company's stock. Throughout its history, HOL has been responsible for a number of technological "firsts" in Greece. Among other things, HOL developed the first Greek web site (http://www.hol.gr/); was the first ISP to announce the creation of Static IP and Dynamic IP services; using the PPP protocol, created the first dial-up connectivity pack, for home users -- and many other innovations. In 2004, Hellas On Line became the first Greek ISP to introduce a VoIP telephony service in the Greek market. In the area of corporate services, Hellas On Line was the first Greek ISP to establish itself as a provider of managed services. Today, Hellas On Line is one of the leading Greek ISPs with more than 65,000 subscribers, a significant market share in the corporate market and a significant provider to public projects. The company offers a wide range of products and services that fully cover the telecommunication needs of home users, professionals, SMEs as well as bigger enterprises and organizations. Services include access, hosting and application development. ABOUT GLOBAL CROSSING Global Crossing provides telecommunications solutions over the world's first integrated global IP-based network. Its core network connects more than 300 cities and 30 countries worldwide, and delivers services to more than 500 major cities, 50 countries and 6 continents around the globe. The company's global sales and support model matches the network footprint and, like the network, delivers a consistent customer experience worldwide. Global Crossing IP services are global in scale, linking the world's enterprises, governments and carriers with customers, employees and partners worldwide in a secure environment that is ideally suited for IP-based business applications, allowing e-commerce to thrive. The company offers a full range of managed data and voice products including Global Crossing IP VPN Service, Global Crossing Managed Services and Global Crossing VoIP services, to more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500, as well as 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs. Please visit http://www.globalcrossing.com/ for more information about Global Crossing. Statements made in this press release that state the company's intentions, beliefs, expectations, or predictions for the future are forward-looking statements. These statements contain words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," "will," "seek," or similar expressions. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the statements, including the conditioning of the company's continued listing on the NASDAQ National Market on its timely filing with the SEC of all periodic reports for all reporting periods ending on or prior to September 30, 2005; the company's history of substantial operating losses and the fact that, in the near term, funds from operations will not satisfy cash requirements; legal and contractual restrictions on the payment of dividends and the inter-company transfer of funds by the company's subsidiaries, including restrictions under the senior secured notes indenture applicable to Global Crossing (UK) Telecommunications Limited("GCUK"); the likelihood that the prices the company charges for its services will continue to decrease; the company's ability to continue to connect its network to incumbent carriers' networks or maintain Internet peering arrangements on favorable terms; the success of the company's business realignment plan and the realization of anticipated cost savings; the consequences of any inadvertent violation of the company's Network Security Agreement with the U.S. Government; the impact of actual and potential customers' bankruptcies on the company's sales prospects and results of operations; increased competition and pricing pressures resulting from technology advances and regulatory changes; competitive disadvantages relative to competitors with superior resources; the impact on the company's competitiveness of its technology choices; the company's dependence on third parties for many functions; political, legal and other risks due to the company's substantial international operations; risks arising out of the company's material weaknesses in internal controls and possible difficulties and delays in improving such controls; the concentration of GCUK's revenue in a limited number of customers, and the rights of such customers to terminate their contracts or to simply cease purchasing services thereunder; and other risks referenced from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no duty to update information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time. CONTACT GLOBAL CROSSING: Press Contacts Tisha Kresler + 1 973-937-0146 [email protected] Kendra Langlie + 1 305-808-5912 [email protected] Mish Desmidt Europe + 44 (0) 7771-668438 [email protected] Analysts/Investors Contact Laurinda Pang + 1 800-836-0342 [email protected] Global Crossing CONTACT: Tisha Kresler, +1-973-937-0146, [email protected], KendraLanglie, +1-305-808-5912, [email protected], Mish Desmidt, Europe,+44-7771-668438, [email protected], Analysts/Investors Contact:Laurinda Pang, 1-800-836-0342, [email protected], all of GlobalCrossing Web site: http://www.globalcrossing.com/http://www.hol.gr/ |