Cisco Systems Endorses Teltrend Limited To Bridge Legacy Voice to Next Generation Networks.

ST. CHARLES, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 1999--

Teltrend Inc. (NASDAQ: TLTN) today announced that Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) has endorsed Teltrend Limited, a subsidiary of Teltrend Inc., to provide its channel with telecom signalling interworking technology to work alongside its own products. Teltrend Limited's interworking and conversion technology will enable Cisco's telecom carrier customers, systems integrators and resellers to provide legacy PBX support over converged data, voice and video networks using Cisco routers and Teltrend Limited's InterChange iQ 200 product. As part of this endorsement, Teltrend Limited is already in negotiations with Azlan, one of Cisco's channel partners.

Tony Martin, sales and marketing director at Teltrend Limited, says, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work closely again with Cisco and its sales channel. We have seen the Multiservice market using Voice-Over-Frame Relay, and more recently Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), become a feasible service and intrinsic to next generation networks. Indeed, a survey this week by Datamonitor shows that IP traffic is growing by 1,000 per cent every year. Yet many data vendors from outside the UK are unable to provide the capability because of established legacy UK protocols. Our products aim to overcome the problem of proprietary equipment by enabling interworking and transparency between PBXs, public and private networks."

Teltrend Limited's InterChange iQ 200 will provide users of telecom networks running on the proprietary UK standard (DPNSS) with the capability to interwork with the new Q.Sig standard. It is estimated that 60-80 per cent of UK private telephony networks use the DPNSS protocol; many data network vendors, however, use the emerging Q.Sig technology. In this application, the solution offers full support of DPNSS services via Q.Sig interfaces on Cisco's routers.

Maren Bennette, multiservice sales manager at Cisco, adds, "We are committed to providing our UK channel partners with the technology to enable their customers to offer single end-to-end multiservice solutions. We recognize the need for our solutions to be capable of supporting the installed base of DPNSS-based PBX networks. The Teltrend technology makes this possible, enabling packet-based backbones to replace Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) structures with no loss of functionality."

"We have worked previously with Teltrend Limited on a number of projects and found the relationship to be beneficial to both parties", Bennette continues. "We looked at a number of competitors but found that no other UK company was as technically advanced and able to offer the level of support through a well-developed support structure as Teltrend Limited. Trials have already been successfully completed with the 3810 and 5300."

Teltrend Limited designs and manufactures the Interchange iQ family of central office based "access managers" which provide digital access and telecoms signalling solutions. These Interchange iQ products provide in-band, out-of-band and packet-to-circuit switched interface conversion.

Teltrend's customers include Regional Bell Operating Companies, GTE, Sprint, other US and international telephone companies and leading multinational equipment manufacturers. Headquartered in suburban Chicago, Teltrend has over 500 employees worldwide and was established in 1979.

Teltrend's worldwide web address is www.teltrend.com

All products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.