Allied Telesyn Aligns With Sphere Communications to Deliver Complete Next Generation IP Telecommunication Solutions.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2004

Partnership to Deliver End-to-End VoIP Solution to Enterprise,

Education and Government Customers Worldwide

Allied Telesyn, Inc., a global leader in IP-based networking solutions for the access edge, today announced an alliance with Sphere Communications, the leading provider of enterprise telecommunications software for voice, video and data, to deliver a complete, end-to-end IP telephony solution to enterprise, education and government customers worldwide.

"Allied Telesyn views this relationship as strategically vital by converging Sphere's recognized expertise in VoIP with our IP network core competency," said Howard Kamerer, Allied Telesyn President and COO. "We will continue to expand our presence in voice, video and data with further development and investments in strategic initiatives in this market."

"The timing for a relationship with Allied Telesyn is perfect," said Chuck Pearson, CEO and Founder of Sphere Communications. "The combination provides global reach with a broad range of key components, at a time when the VoIP market is growing dramatically."

The joint effort gives the two companies an opportunity to deliver a best-of-breed solution featuring Allied Telesyn, Inc.'s residential gateways, Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches and routers and Sphere's Sphericall telecommunications software. The agreement includes a reseller relationship that expands the Allied Telesyn, Inc. applications to include telephony solutions, an interoperability alliance ensuring that products work together, and an equity investment in Sphere Communications as part of Sphere's recent investment round.

"Allied Telesyn and Sphere Communications's individual strengths with proven end-to-end telecommunications solutions provide a powerful team to address an accelerating market that's expected to grow at 31% CAGR over the next five years," said Infonetics Research analyst Matthias Machowinski.

Customers will benefit from the quick time to deployment, lower total cost of ownership, ease of maintenance, and one-stop shopping offered by all of Allied Telesyn's end-to-end solutions. Allied Telesyn's complete line of switching and routing products such as the Rapier 24i provides ultimate flexibility, advanced Layer 3 features, high reliability, and an affordable price point. In addition, the company's switches and residential gateways give customers more line support and a smaller form factor than competitive solutions, so customers can attach more lines without purchasing additional boxes. Allied Telesyn solutions are also tested individually and together with applications to ensure complete compatibility and operability.

Sphericall is a next generation; software-based telecommunications platform that hosts a wealth of traditional PBX features, while at the same time adding Video, Conferencing, Instant Messaging, and Presence capabilities that significantly shift productivity. The product line also includes the powerful Sphericall Desktop, providing a one stop communications point for enterprise users that is synchronized with their desktop phone and comes with an integral softphone bringing complete mobility in a communicate anywhere approach to being connected. Allied Telesyns RG600 series of Residential Gateways for Small Office and Home Office telecommunications have been Sphere Certified, ensuring customers that they are getting proven telephony components as part of complete solution offerings.

Innovating Applications to Meet Market Demands

The alliance between the two companies continues Allied Telesyn, Inc.'s tradition of innovation to meet growing market needs. The company has launched five applications in high-demand markets, including Triple Play voice, video and data solution with Layer 3 switches, CWDM and the Multiservice Access Platform, which supports multiple access technologies for the growing IP Ethernet convergence market. It has also successfully launched intelligent Regional Optical Networks (iRON) to meet the demand for secure, private networks over a wide area or municipality, intelligent Fiber-to-the-Desk (iFTTD) solutions for customers demanding security and bandwidth and value, intelligent Point of Sale (iPOS) networks for retail and hospitality industries, and intelligent NETworks (iNET), which are modular, scalable Layer 3 intelligent networking solutions.

About Sphere Communications

Sphere is the leading provider of enterprise telecommunications software technology, providing truly integrated voice, video and data communications solutions. Sphere Communications has hundreds of installed customer networks and was first to deliver IP PBX systems into the market. Founded in 1994 Sphere Communications headquarters is located in Lincolnshire, Illinois and provides its products to a variety of enterprise customer networks. For more information please see the Sphere Communications web site at www.spherecom.com.

About Allied Telesyn, Inc.

Founded in 1987, Allied Telesyn, Inc. is a worldwide leader in IP-based networking products for carriers, service providers, enterprises, and educational institutions. With wholly-owned manufacturing facilities that deliver superior quality, Allied Telesyn delivers more than 1200 products to more than 50,000 customers worldwide. The company has comprehensive lines of high-quality access, aggregation, and core transport products for fiber and copper networks. In addition, Allied Telesyn has extensive global professional services and support organizations to back them up. With approximately $500 million in annual revenue, Allied Telesyn operates in more than 30 countries on five continents. For more information, please see www.alliedtelesyn.com.