Elthe Corporation and NaTel Network Team to Build VoIP Infrastructure; Elthe's EGK 5000 Provide Voice and Data Services for Complete Network Solution.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 2001

Elthe Corporation, the provider of advanced Internet Protocol (IP) communications solutions, today announced that NaTel Network, national network service provider, has selected Elthe's award-winning, EGK 5000 for deployment in its nationwide VoIP infrastructure.

NaTel is building its next-generation voice network using Elthe's EGK 5000, VoIP gatekeeper, the essential component of an H.323 network. With EGK 5000 providing critical network management and call control functions, NaTel will process over 225 million minutes a month of traffic. And to accommodate the requirements of large-scale IP telephony network for NaTel, the carrier-grade, high performance EGK 5000 will serve as the "central intelligence agent".

"Elthe's highly scalable and reliable product fully interoperate with and extend the life and utility of today's public network," commented Danny Bannister, CEO of NaTel. "NaTel's strategy is to integrate Internet, voice and data applications to deliver truly converged, collaborative services, and our work with Elthe is advancing that strategy."

"We are very proud that NaTel has selected Elthe to help it build its next-generation VoIP network, and we're tremendously excited about the range of services that NaTel will be able to deliver to its customers through Elthe's EGK 5000," said Ken Lee, CEO of Elthe Corporation.

Delivering VoIP infrastructure solutions to carriers and service providers worldwide, the Elthe equipment supports the full range of carrier switching requirements while providing unique, open approach through which new services can be created quickly and implemented easily. The Elthe equipment satisfies the need for rapid development and deployment of new applications and services, integrating enhanced applications on IP-based platforms. Moreover, the new infrastructure utilizes already existing equipment and investments.

Elthe's EGK 5000 gatekeeper has been developed for telecommunication companies for its needs of scalability and reliability. With intra-gatekeeper communication, EGK 5000 gatekeepers can distribute and re-route calls to other EGK 5000 gatekeepers, providing load balancing and improving the scalability. EGK-5000 gatekeeper's core technology is software-based, developed in C language, and can run on both UNIX (SUN Solaris, Linux) and Windows (NT, 2000, 98).

About NaTel, LLC 

Formed in 1996, NaTel, LLC and its officers entered the telecommunications industry with over 25 years of combined experience and a goal of providing high-quality digital transmissions services at competitive prices. Offering telecommunication services to carriers, distribution companies and to end users, this goal has continued over the past four years as NaTel continued to build, sell and support its network that now processes over 225 million minutes per month. Moving into 2001, NaTel is working with Cisco Systems, UUNet (Worldcom) and other technology leaders to continue to deploy its national VoIP (voice over internet protocol) network. For more information, visit www.natelllc.net.

About Elthe Corporation

Elthe Corporation is the leading provider of IP-based communications solutions and carrier class, high performance communications servers. Elthe utilizes one-of-a-kind voice compression technology to seamlessly integrate Internet-based PC-to-PC, PC-to-Phone and Phone-to-Phone communications as well as voicemail, instant messaging, file transferring and text chatting into a single messaging solution. In addition, Elthe's Gatekeepers are scalable and affordable enabling next-generation carriers and service providers across IP-based platforms. Technically advanced, Elthe's EGK series can support VPN, NAT environment under Firewall, ensuring security. Founded in 1998, Elthe Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and can be reached at www.elthe.com.

Note to Editors: "Elthe" is a registered trademark of Elthe Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated and are hereby recognized as such.