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NexTone IP Multimedia Exchange Powers IMS Interconnects in GSMA Trials in Europe and Asia; NexTone Solution Ensures Multimedia Services Will Work Seamlessly across Network Boundaries
[December 13, 2005]

NexTone IP Multimedia Exchange Powers IMS Interconnects in GSMA Trials in Europe and Asia; NexTone Solution Ensures Multimedia Services Will Work Seamlessly across Network Boundaries


GAITHERSBURG, Md. --(Business Wire)-- Dec. 13, 2005 -- NexTone Communications(R), the leader in distributed and intelligent session management solutions for VoIP and other real-time IP services, today announced that four of the seven GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) carriers used the NexTone IP Multimedia Exchange (IMX) platform to power their successful trials in the European and Asian interoperability tests. The tests were conducted by the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association that exists to promote, protect, and enhance the interests of GSM mobile operators throughout the world.



The trials, conducted over the last six months, brought together mobile network operators, GRX carriers, and equipment suppliers to ensure that the next generation of multimedia services, based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), will work smoothly and have compatibility across networks once these services are launched for customers. The tests are crucial for the many operators around the world that are planning to use IMS to handle multimedia services such as instant messaging, push-to-talk-over-cellular, video-sharing, and multiplayer-games in the future.

GRX carriers, like KPN and CITIC Telecom 1616, play an essential role for mobile operators by transmitting data traffic between their networks and by offering their customers global roaming facilities. The session management intelligence of NexTone's IMX enabled those carriers to support IMS interworking and demonstrate hub-to-hub connectivity, including inter-working between IMS IPv6 systems and IMS IPv4 systems.


NexTone's IMX is designed to enable secure and seamless interconnectivity between 3G mobile networks, wireline networks, and networks based on the IMS service delivery framework. The NexTone IMX can also interconnect multiple IMS networks and facilitate the exchange of multimedia traffic between service providers. NexTone's IMX platform operates at the network edge to provide seamless connectivity between IMS networks, and this flexibility enables subscriber roaming between networks and gives users the mobility that they require.

"The GSMA trials demonstrated how the advanced session management intelligence of NexTone's IMX enables GRX carrier customers to quickly and seamlessly interconnect with one another. This flexible platform provides an interconnect facility to manage the rapid growth of traffic between wireline carriers and 3G mobile operators, while enabling new business models for network and service expansion," said Dan Dearing, vice president of marketing at NexTone. "Now, wireline carriers can transparently exchange minutes with mobile carriers, deliver fixed-mobile convergence services, and extend the reach of their networks by peering with mobile operators. The NexTone IMX can also interconnect multiple IMS networks and facilitate the exchange of multimedia traffic between service providers."

"CITIC Telecom 1616 Ltd., the telecom arm of the Hong Kong CITIC Pacific Group, is pleased to participate in the GSMA IPX trials," said Sutton Cheung, director, product marketing, at CITIC Telecom 1616. "Our participation in the GSMA trials is critical to our strategy of becoming a hub for multimedia services to China and the rest of the world. The NexTone IMX provides the intelligent signaling and flexibility to enable seamless connectivity between mobile and wireline carriers in providing users with the ultimate in mobility."

"IMS will be the key to a new way of mobile communications, offering exciting applications we have never seen before. Seamless interoperability is crucial to make that happen," added Edwin A.D. Van Ierland, senior vice president, KPN Carrier Services International.

The NexTone IMX incorporates specialized session awareness to adapt to the requirements of the IMS framework. Key session management features include network-based policy and session routing, providing end-to-end control of real-time sessions across networks; advanced SIP features to support mobile gaming, chat, and other real-time applications as subscribers roam between networks; transcoding of wireline codecs on wireline networks to wireless codecs on IMS networks; and IPv4 to IPv6 network address translation to provide seamless connectivity between VoIP and IMS networks. The NexTone IMX also provides secure connectivity to IMS networks using intelligent identity mechanisms, including access control lists, SIP/TLS certificates, and DNS checks, that authenticate subscribers and protect against SIP security threats such as spam over internet telephony (SPIT) and spam by instant messenger (SPIM).

About NexTone Communications

NexTone Communications develops carrier-grade products for delivering scalable control of real-time IP services, such as voice over IP (VoIP). NexTone's solutions enable carriers, service providers, and enterprises to securely, simply, and cost-effectively interconnect networks for end-to-end control and management of IP traffic. NexTone's real-time IP technology is installed by more than 370 service providers and enterprises worldwide to dramatically reduce capital expenditures and deliver ongoing operational efficiencies such as reduced interconnect "turn-up" time and simplified network operations. The company is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, with domestic and international sales offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.nextone.com.

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