Siemens Venture Capital Increases Equity Investment in General Bandwidth

BOCA RATON, Fla. — July 27, 2005 — Siemens Communications, Inc., today announced the creation of a new strategic relationship with General Bandwidth and is leveraging the company’s G6 Universal Media Gateway as an integral component of the Siemens Next Generation Exchange (NGE) offering for U.S. service providers. The Siemens® NGE portfolio is a carrier-grade, standards-based solution designed to give service providers a cost-effective way to introduce new voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services over existing legacy networks.

General Bandwidth is a leading VoIP manufacturer of equipment and applications that enable rapid deployment and new service revenue generation over broadband networks. As part of the new strategic relationship, Siemens Venture Capital (SVC), a $600 million corporate venture organization of Siemens AG, is increasing its existing equity investment in General Bandwidth. SVC originally invested in General Bandwidth in 2001.

The Siemens NGE solution, designed for U.S. service providers, is a fully integrated offering that includes the Siemens SURPASS® softswitch and integration services from Siemens, along with General Bandwidth’s G6 Universal Media Gateway. The Siemens NGE solution is scalable up to 100,000 lines and offers multiple services on the same SURPASS platform, including residential and business services.

The NGE solution complements Siemens’ family of SURPASS NGN solutions including Voice over Broadband (VoBB), Hosted Office™ (BC) and Voice over Cable (VoC). The offering can also become a building block in an Internet Protocol (IP)-based Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) fixed mobile convergence environment.

By incorporating General Bandwidth’s G6 Universal Media Gateway, Siemens will provide both line and trunk media gateway functions on a single platform. Enhanced emergency standalone capabilities are also integrated into the G6 platform, enabling the remote G6 gateway to maintain emergency and local community calling in the event of lost connectivity to the central softswitch.

General Bandwidth’s G6 platform scales to meet the needs of distributed softswitch deployments using industry standards-based protocols such as GR-303, TR-08, SS7 IMT, CAS, PRI and E911. As the access network evolves to deliver broadband services, the same G6 platform can simultaneously perform as a trunking media gateway supporting IP protocols such as SIP, MGCP and H.248.

“Service providers who want to displace legacy Class 5 networks want assurance that investments in IP will scale as they migrate for full VoIP and IMS architectures,” said Charles Vogt, General Bandwidth’s president and CEO. “The Siemens SURPASS hiQ softswitch and the General Bandwidth G6 Universal Media Gateway are each designed for reliable, scalable, carrier-grade network environments, creating a compelling offering for service providers who want to make a circuit-to-packet transition without disrupting existing service offerings.”

“The benefit of open standards is that service providers can always choose the best solution for their businesses,” said Harald Braun, president of Siemens Carrier Networks, Siemens Communications, Inc. “With the Siemens NGE solution, service providers also benefit from industry-leading experience in deploying fully integrated IP solutions.”

About General Bandwidth
General Bandwidth is a leading provider of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) infrastructure solutions spanning more than 50 service providers worldwide. General Bandwidth delivers broadband solutions addressing a full range of applications, including residential and business access, trunking and enhanced VoIP solutions. General Bandwidth was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. www.genband.com

About Siemens
Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $91.5 billion in fiscal 2004. Founded more than 150 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $16.6 billion and employs 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Thirteen of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 430,000 people in 192 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com

About Siemens Communications, Inc.
Siemens Communications, Inc., offers its customers a broad portfolio of communication products and services and is a leader in convergent technologies, products and services for wireless, fixed and enterprise networks. The company’s portfolio ranges from devices for end users to complex network infrastructures and complementary services for enterprises, carriers and service providers. Siemens Communications, Inc., is headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla.

About Siemens Venture Capital
Siemens Venture Capital (SVC) is the $600 million corporate venture organization for Siemens AG (NYSE: SI), one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $91.5 billion in fiscal 2004. The goal of SVC is to identify and fund investments in emerging and innovative technologies that will enhance the core business scope of Siemens, particularly in Information and Communications, Automation and Control, Medical Solutions, Automotive Technology and Transportation Systems, Power and Lighting.

SVC is part of a greater network of Siemens whose mission is to drive technological innovation by supporting start-up companies. In addition to Siemens Venture Capital, also Siemens Acceleration in Communications, Siemens Technology Accelerator and Siemens Technology-To-Business Center contribute to the innovation strategy of Siemens. Their individual mandates are defined according to financing stages and industry focus. More: www.siemensventurecapital.com.

Contacts:
Noah Sessions
GENBAND Inc.
+1.972.265.3664 (office)
noah.sessions@genband.com

Note: Siemens, Hosted Office and SURPASS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens AG, its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.