Avail Networks Announces Entry Into Broadband Multi-Service Access Equipment Market.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2000

New Company to Provide Next-Generation Broadband Access Equipment to

Enable the Delivery of Integrated Data, Voice, and Video Services

Avail Networks(TM) announced today that it is developing broadband multi-service access products - the Frontera(TM) family - that will enable Integrated Communications Providers (ICPs) - including voice/data Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs), Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs), national Post, Telephony and Telecommunications companies (PTTs), Inter-Exchange Carriers (IXCs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - to deliver integrated data, voice, and video services to groups of subscribers over unified access networks. Unlike other vendors focused only on high-speed data access or single subscriber solutions, Avail Networks is the first company to target the ICP market with a small, robust customer premises equipment (CPE) platform capable of handling simultaneous packet or cell-based data, voice, and video with precise QoS controls on a per subscriber, per session basis.

Avail's Frontera solutions are specifically designed to enable emerging revenue-generating services such as Voice over DSL (VoDSL), which combines voice telephony services with high-speed data over DSL access networks. The products increase deployment flexibility by utilizing cost-effective DSL services and other high-speed WAN technologies including T1/E1, T3/E3, and OC-3 for access to public and private networks.

&uot;Integrated data, voice, and video services will soon be reaching small and midsize businesses, providing these customers with more cost-effective solutions for their communications needs,&uot; said Beth Gage, Director at TeleChoice (www.telechoice.com), a leading provider of business and marketing strategy consulting to the telecommunications industry. &uot;Service providers need solutions to address a variety of deployment scenarios in order to achieve an optimal balance of customer support and network architecture simplification. Avail's solutions expand the options for service providers in addressing new customer segments, particularly in multi-subscriber environments.&uot;

The Integrated Concentration Device (ICD)

The centerpiece of Avail's Frontera family is a new class of multi-service, multi-subscriber access device called an Integrated Concentration Device, or ICD. The ICD combines specific features of Integrated Access Devices (IADs), DSLAMs, and ATM switches to provide a very cost-effective, yet high-performance, WAN edge device. The ICD platform allows providers to offer integrated broadband services to clusters of subscriber premises in locations such as commercial multi-tenant unit (MTU) buildings, shared office suites, business campuses, and other locations where subscribers are grouped closely together. The ICD is complementary to other CPE such as DSL modems, DSL and VoDSL IADs, routers, and traditional telephony gear including PBXs and key systems. It also interfaces to other service provider infrastructure such as central office based DSLAMs, ATM switches, and VoDSL gateways. The first Frontera ICD product is scheduled for field trials in the second quarter of 2000.

&uot;We are extremely excited about the opportunities in the multi-service access equipment market,&uot; said David Hartmann, President and CEO of Avail Networks. &uot;The ICD product - the core effort in our Frontera line - offers a new level of flexibility for providers delivering multiple services to business locations over broadband connections. While we expect demand for our award-winning RA-2000 remote access concentrators to continue to grow as Internet access build-outs proliferate around the globe, the ICD represents the next generation of product from Avail, aimed at delivering higher access speeds and most importantly, multi-service access.&uot;

About Avail Networks

Founded by computer networking and telecommunications industry veterans, Avail Networks was formed in 1999 to help service providers build the access networks required to cost-effectively deliver integrated data, voice, and video services to subscriber locations. Avail's products include the award-winning RA-2000 dial concentrator family, and the new Frontera family of multi-service access solutions. Avail is headquartered at 305 E. Eisenhower Parkway, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. Telephone: [phone]. Website: http://www.availnetworks.com.

Avail Networks and Frontera are trademarks of Avail Networks, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.