COMGATES Enables Carriers to Back VoIP Offerings With Real-Time QoS/SLA CapabilitieS; New aXon Solution to be Demonstrated at SUPERCOMM 2001.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

HERZLIYA, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2001

COMGATES, a provider of carrier-grade voice infrastructure software and hardware for legacy and new public networks, today introduced aXon, the first integrated solution for enforcing Quality of Service (QoS) and managing service-level agreements (SLAs).

The new technology has been incorporated within COMGATES' CSSW4000 Softswitch architecture.

COMGATES' aXon will be demonstrated in Booth 1528 at SUPERCOMM 2001, June 3-7 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

With aXon, COMGATES becomes the first vendor to integrate real-time QoS and SLA-management capabilities at the call-control layer with a softswitch, an architecture of increasing prominence in carrier networks. The COMGATES solution frees carriers to roll out voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) and other next-generation services such as broadband and content management.

"To this point, lack of effective QoS capabilities integrated at the call-control layer and lack of interoperability among protocols have discouraged carriers from widespread deployment of VoIP, but COMGATES is rolling out a complete solution that addresses both issues," said Danny Bukshpan, co-founder and chief technical officer of COMGATES. "The real-time QoS capabilities of the new aXon enable carriers to converge voice and data communications on an IP infrastructure, while preserving carrier-class quality and performance. The 'Multi Protocol on the Fly' functionality of COMGATES' CSSW4000 Softswitch affords carriers immediate cross-protocol interoperability. COMGATES has done its homework, in identifying two of the most pressing needs in the industry. We have rapidly developed an innovative approach to addressing both of them. COMGATES is the only vendor to specifically focus on merging the softswitch and QoS/SLA mechanisms into one integrated solution at the call-control layer of the network."

The aXon solution is comprised of several subsystems, including the CNAPS (COMGATES Network Analyzer and Packet Switch), which continually monitors network conditions and collects data such as packet loss, latency and jitter, and the QBrain, which performs policy, routing and SLA-management functions. The QBrain understands the applications and relevant user profiles. It then distributes routing tables back to the CNAPS for traffic handling. In this way, the content-aware aXon system can, within a session, dynamically route traffic of any type to a sub-net of the network or to a different network for optimal performance, enabling the traffic to be passed between multiple VoIP carriers and PSTN networks.

These in-session-switching and traffic-management capabilities enable service providers to guarantee that promised levels of service quality are delivered. If signal quality degrades in one portion of the network, the CNAPS detects the condition, and calls are shifted to the alternate paths calculated by the QBrain. By enforcing QoS end-to-end across the COMGATES CSSW4000 Softswitch infrastructure, the aXon system for the first time brings carrier-class service quality and performance to VoIP offerings.

Even in a limited deployment, aXon yields immediate benefits, by enabling service providers to maximize the revenue-generating capabilities of their networks. The system performs real-time monitoring of network conditions, delivers timely information on events to network operators, collects and processes data required to accurately charge for services and exchanges key information with billing and other operating systems.

"The aXon system is in keeping with the strategy underlying each of our products: enabling service providers, network operators and carriers to take advantage of new revenue opportunities, today and moving forward," said Jacob Tirosh, co-founder and chief executive officer of COMGATES. "Along with our CSSW4000 Softswitch, this integrated solution enables carriers to add VoIP and Fax over IP to their service offerings immediately and introduce other user-specified, vital applications as opportunities arise."

About COMGATES

COMGATES is a next-generation communications infrastructure company delivering voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) technologies that enable the convergence of voice and data communications. COMGATES' products help service providers, network operators and carriers take advantage of new revenue opportunities, today and moving forward, by eliminating the key obstacles that have slowed the proliferation of VoIP and other next-generation services. The heart of COMGATES' solution, the CSSW4000 Softswitch, is the industry's first multi-protocol softswitch. Founded in 1998, COMGATES Ltd. is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, and holds subsidiaries in the United States and the Ukraine. For more information, visit www.comgates.com.