Appian Communications Earns 'Product of the Year' Honors from CMP Media's Network Magazine; OSAP Recognized as Most Significant Optical Edge Device.

Business/Technology Editors

ACTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 2002

Appian Communications(TM), the first to enable delivery of carrier-class Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH services, today announced that it has received Network Magazine's prestigious 15th annual Product of the Year award. Appian's Optical Services Activation Platform(TM) (OSAP(TM)) was singled out by Network Magazine editors for its ability to lower metropolitan access costs and complexity, its support for enhanced services such as Ethernet Private Lines, and for breakthroughs such as an advanced queuing and packet-scheduling mechanism that controls latency and jitter for time-sensitive applications.

"Through an extensive research and review process, the editors select the most innovative and significant hardware, software, and service offerings to hit the market in 2001," said Editor-in-Chief, Steve Steinke. The criteria used to judge Product of the Year Award winners include the broad appeal of the product or service to the reader community; competitive enhancements; price/performance advantages; technical ingenuity; new features and applications; and serviceability to the market. To qualify for consideration, the product or service had to ship during calendar year 2001. The Product of the Year Award winners will be featured in the May 2002 issue of Network Magazine.

"Network Magazine is one of the industry's most highly respected networking publications and being named 2002 Product of the Year is a distinct honor for the entire Appian team," said Mick Scully, CEO and co-founder of Appian. "We are particularly delighted because the award recognizes both innovation and execution in products that are shipping and making a difference in today's networks."

Appian's OSAP enables carriers to offer enterprise customers a new generation of more cost effective and scalable data services that combine the low cost and simplicity of Ethernet with the five-nines reliability, end-to-end manageability, and global scale of today's installed SONET/SDH networks. With the OSAP, carriers can reduce the high cost of service delivery, shorten lengthy provisioning cycles and eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks in the local loop. By packet-optimizing a carrier's existing SONET/SDH transport, the OSAP further enables minimal incremental investments in infrastructure as carriers deploy services that include Ethernet Virtual Private Line and high speed, on-demand Internet access.

About CMP's Network Magazine

CMP Media's monthly networking publication Network Magazine - Where the Enterprise Meets the New Public Network - supplies 200,000 worldwide networking/IT buyers - consisting of network/IT managers at corporate enterprises, carriers and service providers, and outsource partner organizations - with in-depth technical information for direct purchasing decisions of mission-critical networking products and services. CMP Media LLC (www.cmp.com) is a leading high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum - the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide.

About Appian Communications

Appian is removing the final metro area bottleneck to new optical service revenues. Designed to enable growth in carrier revenue and profitability, the Appian solution combines the low cost and simplicity of Ethernet with the resilience and scale of established SONET/SDH networks to enable carrier-class Ethernet services that include secure Ethernet Private Lines, Virtual Private LAN, and scalable Ethernet-based Internet/frame relay/ATM access. With its integrated TDM service support, the Optical Services Activation Platform(TM) (OSAP(TM)) is a best-of-breed multi-service solution that simplifies the migration from today's rigid, circuit-optimized voice and private line offerings to next-generation packet service offers. Appian products are currently shipping to emerging and established providers, including NTT Communications, around the world. For more information please visit www.appiancom.com.

Appian Communications, etc. are trademarks of Appian Communications, Inc. All other company, product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.