Excel, MediaRing Partnership to Accelerate VOIP Migration.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Spring VON 2004

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2004

- Leading Session Controller Vendor Joins Excel's I3P Partner

Program, Proves Interoperability of MediaRing VoizBridge and Excel

Gateway -

At Spring VON 2004, Excel Switching Corp. (www.xl.com) announced successful interoperability lab tests that have resulted in a partnership with MediaRing (TM), Ltd. (MRNG.SI) (www.mediaring.com), a global provider of packet telephony services and solutions. As a result, MediaRing joins Excel's IP Interoperability and Innovations Program (I3P) where the MediaRing VoizBridge session controller, enabling peering and secured interconnectivity between multiple VoIP networks, can be effectively deployed alongside Excel's carrier-class, open service platforms, media gateways and media servers.

In the partnership, Excel will provide the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to IP gateway functionality for MediaRing's session border controller to offer a powerful, unified solution for carriers to rapidly expand their offerings of IP services such as VoIP wholesale (prepaid and postpaid), VoIP calling cards, enterprise VoIP and IP conferencing and fax. Both solutions seamlessly interoperate between H.323 and SIP, thereby protecting a carrier's investment in legacy equipment while allowing the carrier to expand into the burgeoning VoIP market.

"Excel is at the forefront of VoIP migration by providing carrier-class solutions that not only support multiple protocols, but also interoperate with a variety of networks, effectively scale and offer great flexibility," said Khaw Kheng Joo, chief executive officer of MediaRing. "Together, Excel and MediaRing allow carriers to securely and cost effectively roll out a broad spectrum of IP services enabling them to add additional revenue."

Attendees are invited to visit the exhibit hall and learn more about Excel's gateway capabilities at Booth #1100. MediaRing is exhibiting at Booth #505.

Excel Poised for VoIP Success

According to Juniper Research, the VoIP market will be the significant revenue generator for broadband service providers by 2009, contributing to an overall value-added services market of $47 billion. This is in addition to the $43 billion that's expected to be spent on broadband access in five years. In a March 2004 report, Juniper indicates that the biggest opportunity for service providers is in voice services as VoIP continues to replace traditional circuit-switched voice.

MediaRing's partnership with Excel demonstrates how service providers can interconnect their networks to quickly gain VoIP market traction, whether their networks are a traditional PSTN or an emerging next generation network powered by SIP and H.323 technologies.

"Excel's approach to VoIP allows carriers to cost-effectively move forward with IP initiatives at a pace that makes sense for them," said J.C. Murphy, president of Excel. "We believe MediaRing will be an integral part of our success with fast growing VoIP networks."

About MediaRing

MediaRing is a global telephony product and services company specializing in providing VoIP interconnect and value-added IP telephony solutions to carriers, service providers, businesses and consumers worldwide. MediaRing VoizBridge is a market leading, carrier-class core session controller product introduced to the market in Q1 2002. Since its introduction, MediaRing VoizBridge has been deployed in various carrier-class installations including at Tier-1 provider, NTT, Telekom Malayasia and Siagon Postel. MediaRing VoizBridge highlights include: VoIP protocol inter-working, multi-vendor interoperability, NAT traversal and topology hiding (signaling and media), access control and security, call session routing, OSP to non-OSP inter-working, call detail record generation and support for media processing. For more information, please visit www.mediaring.com or www.voizbridge.com .

About Excel Switching Corporation

Founded in 1988, Excel Switching Corporation is a leading provider of carrier-class, open services platforms deployed as differentiated media gateways, media servers, signaling gateways and enhanced service platforms for original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, and self-developing service providers worldwide. As a profitable company with over 125 customers worldwide, Excel provides the Converged Services Platform (CSP), the leading open services platform that addresses carriers' needs for profitable applications by bridging wired, wireless, and IP networks. By working closely with its application partners, Excel provides customers with highly reliable, localized solutions designed to meet their immediate and future needs. For more information, visit www.xl.com.

MediaRing VoizBridge(TM) is a trademark of MediaRing, Inc.