Octave Communications, Inc., Pactolus, Pingtel and Wildfire Communications, Inc. Are Latest to Join Sonus' OSPA; Alliance Now Includes Nearly 30 Leading Telecom Companies

WESTFORD, Mass., April 18, 2000 – Sonus Networks, a leading provider of voice infrastructure for the new public network, today announced the addition of four new members to the Sonus Open Services Partner AllianceTM(OSPA). The latest telecommunications vendors to join the OSPA include Octave Communications, Inc., Pactolus Communication Software, Inc., Pingtel Corporation and Wildfire Communications, Inc. The OSPA allows carriers, application service providers and third-party independent service developers (ISDs) to rapidly develop and deliver competitive customer services and applications based on the Sonus Networks Open Services ArchitectureTM(OSA). 

"When we created the OSPA a year ago, our goal was to provide carriers choices in the services they can deploy, something they have not experienced in the past in traditional circuit switched environments," said Gary Rogers, Sonus' vice president of sales and marketing. "The addition of these new partners to the Alliance significantly broadens the service offerings available to our carrier customers, and gives them even greater flexibility in selecting services that will deliver competitive advantage." 

The newest members of Sonus' OSPA offer carriers a range of options for creating and delivering enhanced data and voice services: 

• Octave Communications, Inc. offers high capacity audio conferencing solutions that have set a new industry standard for size, features, performance and cost. Octave's enhanced telephony platform enables service providers to deliver cost-effective, large-scale conferencing services. 
• Pactolus' Rapid-FLEX product suite provides a carrier-class platform for creating and delivering enhanced services over any next-generation communications network. The Rapid-FLEX platform, which is based on XTML (eXtensible Telephony Markup Language), features sophisticated calling card, prepaid and conference calling applications, allowing communications providers to differentiate themselves, increase their subscriber base and build new revenue streams. 
• Pingtel offers xpressaTM, the world's first intelligent Java-based, voice over IP (VoIP) phone capable of leveraging the infinite potential of IP networks. As the delivery platform for next-generation hosted PBX services (IP Centrex) and IP PBX systems, Pingtel's xpressa enables a broad range of new valuable, personalized voice services and related personal productivity, occupation-specific and Web-telephony integration applications. 
• Wildfire's speech recognition technology allows service providers to easily deliver voice-controlled, value-added services that bond subscribers to the network and dramatically increase their minutes of use. With Wildfire, carriers give subscribers a single point of access to all communications requirements, including capabilities such as voice dialing, voice-controlled voice mail, call screening, call routing, unified fax messaging and more. 

About Sonus' OSPA

Launched in June 1999, the OSPA has gained significant industry momentum, with membership of nearly 30 leading independent vendors offering subscriber-specified and user-provisioned services for the new public network. The OSPA gives carriers the flexibility to both develop and integrate "best-of-breed" applications, creating important new revenue streams. For participating partners, the OSPA provides open, published APIs, comprehensive developer tools, testing and support services, technology exchanges and co-marketing and sales activities. Equally important, the Alliance provides a unified customer/vendor forum for creating interoperable standards and technologies. Additional information on the OSPA is available at www.sonusnet.com/partners. 

About Octave Communications, Inc.

Octave Communications, Inc. is focused on delivering next generation audio and multimedia conferencing systems for use by service bureaus, carriers, and enterprises. The company has established a new benchmark in the telecommunications industry by providing domestic and international customers with highly reliable, scaleable and affordable group communication solutions. These solutions are designed to support both existing and future applications such as voice and data conferencing over circuit switched and IP networks. www.octavecomm.com

About Pactolus

Pactolus Communication Software, Inc., based in Framingham MA, is the leading supplier of XML-based enhanced service applications and platforms for next-generation communications networks. Pactolus' Rapid-FLEX application server and eXtensible Telephony Markup Language (XTML) bring the Internet's service delivery model to next-generation enhanced communications services. With XTML, Pactolus enables service providers to rapidly create and deploy value-added business-to-business and residential enhanced services that are customized to meet each subscriber's specific needs. More information about Pactolus is available at www.pactolus.com. 

About PingTel

Pingtel powers a voice services and applications renaissance with the world's first intelligent Java voice-over-IP telephone for service providers and enterprises. As the delivery platform for next-generation virtual IP PBX services (IP Centrex) and IP PBX systems, it not only makes today's voice features much easier to use, but enables a whole new collection of valuable, personalized voice services and applications. A venture-backed start-up, Pingtel is located near Boston, in Woburn, MA, and can also be found at www.pingtel.com. 

About Wildfire Communications

Wildfire Communications, Inc., headquartered in Lexington, Mass., is a pioneer in the field of speech recognition technology. The company develops and markets the Wildfire personal assistant as a speech-based enhanced service offered through public telephone network carriers. Wildfire Communications, Inc., is located at 81 Hartwell Ave., Lexington, MA 02421. For more information on Wildfire Communications, visit the company's Web site at www.wildfire.com. For a demonstration of the Wildfire assistant, call 1.800.WILDFIRE. 

About Sonus Networks

Sonus Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of voice infrastructure products for the new public network. Sonus' solutions enable service providers to deploy an integrated network capable of carrying both voice and data traffic, and to deliver a range of innovative, new services. The Sonus Open Services Architecture (OSA) and award-winning Packet Telephony suite cut the time-to-market for competitive new service products, allowing carriers and third-party developers to expand marketshare and build important new revenue streams. Its highly scalable products fully interoperate with and extend the life and utility of today's public network. Sonus embodies in its management and staff decades of experience in developing carrier-class solutions at companies such as Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, and Nortel Networks. Sonus, founded in 1997, is headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts. 

Open Services Partner Alliance and Open Services Architecture are trademarks of Sonus Networks. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated