3Com and I-Link Advance Development of SIP Technology by Integrating Intelligent Phones and IP Network Access.

Business/Technology Editors

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and DRAPER, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000

Testing of Enhanced Features, Applications and Services for IP

Networks to Benefit Small and Medium Businesses

3Com Corporation (Nasdaq:COMS) and I-Link, Inc. (Nasdaq:ILNK), an enhanced voice/data service provider, announced today that they have signed an agreement to integrate 3Com's session initiation protocol (SIP) phones and I-Link's Indavo V6 gateway and IP network. The successful completion of this interoperability testing is expected to help ensure that small- and medium-sized businesses will have rich connectivity to new, lower cost telephone services with greater call control and enhanced telephony features over an optimized IP network.

Scheduled to begin this month in the U.S., the first stage of the program will focus on interoperability testing between 3Com's SIP phones and I-Link's Indavo V6 gateway and IP network. Under the agreement, I-Link will manage the research and development necessary to modify the Indavo V6 gateway and its IP network to create an interface that will support the SIP protocol and 3Com(R) SIP phones, currently available on a trial basis only. Upon securing successful first-stage results, the two companies may continue to co-market and distribute the SIP Etherphones, Indavo units, I-Link network services and other related products and services.

Indavo V6 is an intelligent gateway hardware device that helps end user customers convert calls from an analog telephone format into the same data packets utilized by the Internet, and transmits those packets over the I-Link IP network. The Indavo V6 enables calls, faxes, e-mails and enhanced services to be carried in real-time with high sound quality. The device also allows customers to access I-Link's enhanced services such as one number call routing, seamless transfer from cell phone to land-line (and vice versa), caller screening and conference calling. For the interoperability testing, 3Com will provide its SIP Etherphones.

SIP is an open, Internet-friendly protocol used to easily initiate, manage and terminate interactive sessions, including voice, across a wide area network (WAN). It enables Custom Local Area Signaling Service (CLASS) features, such as call blocking, caller ID and call forwarding, to be deployed over IP networks. Since becoming a proposed standard of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in March 1999, SIP has gained significant support among telecom equipment vendors, carriers, competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), cable operators and Web-based voice chat providers.

SIP Trials to Advance Delivery of New Features and Applications

Recognizing new market opportunities, I-Link has embraced SIP technology as an innovative way to speed the delivery of new telephony features to customers who will benefit from an improved communication offering. With a SIP-based telephone service, service providers can simply interface to new features and applications without making major upgrades to existing networks. The time spent by service providers to deploy new features is greatly reduced, while customers are relieved from the burden of managing the phone system. For small- and medium-sized businesses, this results in lower start-up and recurrent costs of telephone services.

"SIP technology will enable the creation of an IP network that will allow new voice features and capabilities, such as call filtering, call forwarding and caller ID, to be developed and deployed more quickly than through the traditional public switched telephone network," said Andrew Bezaitis, director, Internet Communications Group, 3Com. "With today's telephone network, implementing a new feature or service is a challenging task due to the PSTN's signaling architecture and the fact that the telephones are dumb. In a SIP-based telephony architecture, services can be implemented and enhanced in the network using a SIP Server or in a client device, such as an intelligent, IP telephone."

"We're truly creating a universal remote control for telecommunications," said John Edwards, CEO, I-Link. "Our seamless network will bring together IP-based, PSTN and wireless applications on a single platform. This means our users are spared from having to deal with varying multi-application cost structures or seeking or developing expensive compatibility solutions. By working with 3Com to add the SIP open protocol to our network, we will ultimately bring exponentially more powerful communications services to small and mid- sized businesses."

About I-Link, Inc.

Headquartered in Draper, Utah, I-Link (Nasdaq: ILNK) is an enhanced voice/data service provider. With its software defined network architecture, I-Link simplifies the delivery of unified communications today. I-Link offers a full range of enhanced services such as one-number call routing, caller screening, unified voice, fax, pager and e-mail messaging, voice- and fax-on-demand, conference calling and seamless call transfer from cell phone to land-line and vice-versa via a direct connection to its nationally deployed Internet Protocol telephony network. For further information, visit I-Link's Web site at http://www.i-link.net.

About 3Com Corporation

3Com simplifies how people connect to information and services through easy-to-use, connectivity products and solutions for consumers and commercial organizations. The company also provides access infrastructures and IP services platforms for network service providers. For further information, visit www.3com.com or the press site at www.3com.com/pressbox.

3Com is a registered trademark of 3Com Corporation. All other company and products names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.