DSL Market Leaders to Team up with Cirpack to Provide Operators with Profitable and Durable Voice Solutions

3Com, Accelerated Networks, Allied Data, Cisco, Efficient Networks, JMT, Netopia, Netova, Polycom, RAD, Voxtream, Xavi, Zhone and Zyxel to partner with Cirpack to provide profitable VoDSL solutions

VoDSL EUROPE CONFERENCE, PARIS, France, February 12, 2002 -- CIRPACK, a leading vendor of next generation telephony equipment for telecom operators infrastructures, today announced here that major VoDSL customer premises equipment vendors have joined its Alliance Program.

This strategic partnership guarantees that whatever their network architecture choices, investments made by telecom operators will remain compatible. As a result it will lead to greater flexibility when implementing DSL strategies.

Associated with industry leading vendors, Cirpack solutions enable telecom operators to immediately offer converging services to increase revenue and to turn unbundling into a profitable business.

IADs (Integrated Access Devices) are an essential part of a Voice over DSL solution," explained Thierry Dassetto, Cirpacks VP of Business Development. He went on to add that, This partnership with VoDSL IADs market leaders gives operators a large choice of CPE vendors to build differentiated service offerings and optimise their costs. With the Cirpack Alliance Program, each partner remains independent but commits to guarantee that IADs deployed today with legacy TDM Switches connected to Cirpack V5.2 Gateways will remain compatible when upgrading to NGN architectures with Cirpack SoftSwitch," he adds.

Double Certification: TDM and NGN

Today, Cirpack are the only Local Exchange switch vendor that certify IADs that work with legacy architecture (V5.2 Broadband Gateways connected to TDM equipment) as well as with Next Generation Networks architecture (Class-5 SoftSwitches).

In a TDM environment, the Cirpack G16M Broadband Gateway connects the Local Exchange switch to the DSL Local Loop. This allows telecom operators to capitalise on their legacy Class-5 switches only providing TDM interfaces (E1 or SDH) while, on the other hand DSL transports voice traffic over ATM (AAL1 or AAL2).

Service Providers without Local Exchange switches can use Cirpack equipment to build an entire voice switching infrastructure without any TDM equipment. The Cirpack S5 SoftSwitch allows for quick and easy deployment of advanced voice services at very low investment and operational costs (50% lower CAPEX and 70% lower OPEX), while still offering more services than legacy TDM switches (BRI, PRI ISDN, VoDSL, VoWLL, VoIP, VoCable, SDH, SS7, etc.).

Major IAD vendors form Asia, Europe and America have joined the Alliance Program to certify their IADs interoperability with Cirpack SoftSwitch (NGN architecture) and V5.2 voice gateway (TDM architecture). In order to be validated, they had to go through a series of strict tests in Cirpacks labs:

1.   3Com
The Office Connect Gateway IAD connects 4, 8 or 12 analogue phones (POTS) to ADSL.
For more information: www.3com.com

2.   Accelerated Networks
The AN-28 IAD links 8 basic rate ISDN (BRI) or 8 analogue phones (POTS) to ADSL or SDSL.
The AN-30 connects 1 or 2 primary rate ISDN (PRI) to SDSL or G.SHDSL.
For more information: www.acceleratednetworks.com

3.   Allied Data
The CopperJet IAD can connect 2 or 4 analogue phones (POTS) to ADSL.
For more information: www.allieddata.com

4.   Cisco Systems
The 2423 IAD connects 8 analogue phones (POTS) to ADSL.
For more information: www.cisco.com

5.   Efficient Networks
The 7460 IAD connects 1 or 2 connects 2 primary rate ISDN (PRI) to one ADSL or SDSL.
For more information: www.efficient.com

6.   JMT
The JIAD IAD connects 4 analogue phones (POTS) to ADSL.
For more information: www.jmtelecom.co.kr

7.   Netopia
The 4700 IAD connects 4 or 8 POTS devices to SDSL, ADSL or G.SHDSL.
Pour plus dinformations : www.netopia.com

8.   Netova
The Netova-A521 IAD connects 2 primary rate ISDN (PRI) to one G.SHDSL.
For more information: www.netova.net

9.   RAD
The LA-140 IAD can connect 12 POTS devices or 12 ISDN Basic Rate Interfaces (BRI) or 1 ISDN Primary Rate Interfaces (PRI) to ADSL, SDSL or G-SHDSL.
For more information: www.rad.com

10.   Polycom
The NetEngine 6100 IAD connects 4 to 8 analogue phones (POTS) or 4 basic rate ISDN (BRI) to one ADSL. The NetEngine 6500 IAD has similar features over G.SHDSL.
For more information: www.polycom.com

11.   Voxtream
The i30+ IAD can connect 4 or 8 basic rate ISDN (BRI) as well as 1 primary rate ISDN (PRI) to one G.SHDSL line and can backup the installation over a legacy ISDN line.
For more information: www.voxtream.com/Products/iad.html

12.   XAVi
The X5000 IAD links 2 or 4 analogue phones (POTS) to ADSL.
For more information: www.xavi.com.tw

13.   Zhone Technologies
The Z-EDGE IAD links 4 basic rate ISDN (BRI) or 4 analogue phones (POTS) to SDSL or G.SHDSL. For more information: www.zhone.com

14.   ZyXEL
The Prestige 794RA IAD links 4 POTS devices to G.SHDSL.
For more information: www.zyxel.com

An updated list of Premium IAD Partners is available at: www.cirpack.com/partner

About CIRPACKs IAD Alliance Program

CIRPACK has launched its IAD certification Program at the beginning of 2001 including the leading IAD manufacturers (Integrated Access Devices, customer premise equipment bundling voice and data traffic onto one single phone line). The goal is to certify full interoperability of IADs with CIRPACKs equipment to allow operators to choose those IADs that are the most appropriate for the services they offer.

CIRPACK stands apart from its competitors by certifying IADs with both its Class-5 SoftSwitches (NGN architecture) and its V5.2 Broadband Gateways (TDM architecture). To obtain certification, IADs have to go through a series of strict tests in CIRPACKs labs. Some IAD manufacturers have undertaken to repeat certification tests at each new software release. These PREMIUM PARTNERS wish to guarantee that their IADs will operate in all situations with CIRPACK SoftSwitches and voice gateways.

About CIRPACK

CIRPACK is a leading equipment vendor for telecom operators converged voice infrastructure (PSTN). Our universal open platform supports simultaneous TDM, ATM and IP voice traffics and protocols. CIRPACK solutions are fast and easy to deploy and allow savings of 50% in CAPEX (investments costs) and 70% in OPEX (operating costs). CIRPACK deployed the world largest SoftSwitch-based TDM/Packet PSTN, supporting 100% of this operators voice revenues, as early as 1998.

In the current telephony revolution, CIRPACK is the only vendor offering a non-disruptive carrier-class platform supporting any migration path from legacy proprietary TDM switches to the open packet-telephony model (NGN). CIRPACKs telephony platform is highly scalable and can be changed to any converged telephony element by a simple software download.

CIRPACK is headquartered in Suresnes near Paris, with subsidiaries in the United States and Great Britain. CIRPACKs customers include Kaptech, Tiscali, Soleos, Free Telecom and MTE among others.

For more information, please visit www.cirpack.com or contact info@cirpack.com.