Axerra Networks Advances Multiservice Over Packet Strategy With Emerging Standards From Major Organizations.

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Recent Progress at MFA, MEF, ITU, and IETF Validates Ongoing Strategy Enabling Axerra's Pseudo-Wire Solutions to Furnish a Full Suite of Standards-Based Services Over Any Packet Network

Axerra Networks, "The Pseudo-Wire Company(TM)," and the leading provider of circuit emulation and service emulation services over packet networks announced today the advancement of its Multiservice over Packet strategy based on recent progress in all major standards organizations and forums. Significant progress in the definition and implementation of pseudo-wire standards validates Axerra's technical direction and enables Axerra's AXN Pseudo-Wire Gateways and Access Devices(TM) to extend a full suite of standards-based services over any packet network.

Recent ratification of circuit emulation standards and implementation agreements from the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance (MFA), Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) accelerates and promotes the use of pseudo-wires to simplify the implementation of any service over any packet network. Circuit emulation work is also on track for two RFCs in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Based on its field experience deploying pseudo-wire solutions, Axerra has been a major technical contributor to standards work in this technology at the MFA, MEF, ITU, and IETF, and Alexander (Sasha) Vainshtein, Chief Software Architect at Axerra Networks, co-edited the recent Implementation Agreement (IA) for the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance which addresses key aspects of emulating Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) over MPLS networks. "The standards work on carrying legacy services over various packet-based networks (MPLS, carrier Ethernet, and IP) is now approaching completion, with different organizations covering various specific aspects of appropriate standards and Implementation Agreements (IAs)," noted Vainshtein. "This latest IA (MFA 8.00) covers all aspects of TDM circuit emulation over MPLS networks, including encapsulation, signaling, and OAM, complementing ITU-T Y.1413 (which deals with the data plane and OAM aspects of TDM circuit emulation over MPLS), MEF 8 IA (which deals with the data plane, OAM, and service requirements aspects of TDM circuit emulation over metro Ethernet), and a series of IETF PWE3 drafts."

Instrumental in the development of pseudo-wire standards from the outset, Axerra's commitment to multivendor interoperability has been demonstrated and documented with a significant number of vendors over the past two years, ensuring that early deployments by service providers would not become stranded proprietary solutions. Axerra's AXN Pseudo-Wire Gateways and Access Devices empower service providers to furnish Frame Relay, ATM, and Ethernet, as well as full-featured TDM voice and leased-line services from any packet network.

An early innovator of pseudo-wire technology, Axerra Networks introduced the concept using multiservice over packet terminology, coining the terms Multiservice over IP (MSoIP(TM)), Circuit Emulation Service over IP (CESoIP(TM)), Frame Relay over IP (FRoIP(TM)), and ATM over IP (ATMoIP(TM)). Axerra continues to extend the frontier of pseudo-wire applications into mobile/wireless, cable MSO, and metro Ethernet networks.

About Axerra Networks, Inc.

Axerra Networks is the leading provider of circuit emulation and service emulation solutions over packet access networks. Established in November 2000 with headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, Axerra's pseudo-wire solutions enable incumbent carriers, competitive service providers, mobile/wireless operators, and cable MSOs to extend IP + legacy voice and data services in native format over Ethernet, IP, and MPLS networks. The result is greater operational efficiency, new revenue opportunities, and a smooth migration strategy to a single converged network, without stranding any revenue streams from profitable legacy services. With Axerra's pseudo-wire solutions, service providers can convert any packet access network (metro Ethernet, broadband wireless including WiMAX, DOCSIS HFC, etc.) into a full-service alternative to T1/E1 over copper. For more information, please visit: http://www.axerra.com.