NetPhone Announces First PCI Server-Based PBX; NetPhone PBX-816 Offers Telephony Industry's First All-in-One, Always-Up Architecture on a PCI Board.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1998--NetPhone, Inc., a leading provider of communications servers offering computer telephony solutions and IP telephony solutions, today announced NetPhone(R) PBX-816, the telephony industry's first PCI (peripheral components interconnect) board that supports small to medium-sized business' PBX needs with ten to 100 extensions. This is NetPhone's newest addition to its family of intelligent PBX (private branch exchange) boards. The NetPhone PBX-816 is a PCI board that plugs into a PC running a Microsoft NT server and features industry-standard telephony application programming interfaces (APIs). As the telephony industry migrates to the PCI standard, NetPhone is ready with an all-in-one PBX solution.

The PCI board represents the telephony industry's next-generation standard for boards. Unlike the ISA (industry standard architecture) standard, the PCI board makes more resources available to other devices in the computer that require the CPU's attention. This improves a computer's overall efficiency and increases speed and processing time. As a result, NetPhone PBX-816 offers a more powerful telephony solution than other PBX products through its ability to operate in real-time with other media. Small to medium-sized companies benefit from a full-featured PBX on a single board that offers tight integration of voice and data applications.

The new system's robust feature set includes a fully non-blocking switch with 32 channels of voice play and record capabilities. In addition, the PBX-816 can simultaneously support a wide range of client and server-resident telephony applications. The PBX-816 is based on NetPhone's patented Always Up(TM) architecture, which enables new calls to be made or received even if the NT server fails.

"NetPhone continues to move with the market to offer businesses the most current, easy-to-use, yet sophisticated PBX solutions in the industry," said Mike Katz, vice president of marketing and business development at NetPhone. "Using NetPhone PBX-816, organizations can capitalize on the advantages of computer telephony applications with no worry about reliability, increasing sales, improving customer satisfaction, enhancing office productivity and reducing telephony administration costs." Features/Benefits

Completely Open Architecture--Support for NetPhone's PhoneMaster(R) and VoiceMaster(TM) and, through OpenNet!(TM), a variety of third-party telephony applications. NetPhone's open architecture is built on industry-standard APIs and computer telephony application programming interfaces, to meet each customer's unique requirements.

Always Up Architecture--Guarantee that the telephony system can make and receive calls even if the server fails since all PBX switch software is resident on the board, not the host server.

Scaleable User Capacity--An industry standard SCSA bus interface that allows NetPhone and approved third-party telephony boards to be interconnected for system expansion providing a solution that grows with your business. Up to six PBX-816 boards can be interconnected to support 96 users.

Complete PBX on a Single Board--A high value architecture that includes all voice processing, outside trunk lines and inside station lines on a single PCI board that supports eight trunks and 16 user extensions.

Extensive PBX Call Processing Features--A full set of call processing features accompanies each board. These include: call waiting, call hold with optional background audio, call transfer, call conferencing, call forwarding, call pick up, call-group covering, call-group hunting and call queuing, call park and direct extension dialing with caller ID.

Flexible Auto Attendant--On-board auto attendant eliminates the need for an operator and supports multiple levels as well as multiple tenant functions. This feature supports customizable greeting messages and direct dial of user extensions and departmental call centers.

Client/Server Ready--A fully customizable, easy-to-use user interface gives users a choice while boosting productivity. Pricing and Availability

The NetPhone PBX-816 board and software bundle for Microsoft NT servers (includes PhoneMaster and VoiceMaster) will be available in Q4 1998 through NetPhone VARs, resellers and distributors for a list price of $6,995. About NetPhone, Inc.

NetPhone, Inc., based in Marlborough, Mass., provides high-availability telecommunications products that combine telephony, computing, corporate networks and the Internet. This convergence enables new telephony applications while reducing operating and management costs. NetPhone's unique "Always Up" architecture provides users with dependable dial tone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Always Up architecture guarantees NetPhone users access to the public switched telephone network regardless of the state of the server or LAN network. NetPhone provides solutions that increase productivity while driving down the cost of communications.

NetPhone and PhoneMaster are registered trademarks and VoiceMaster and Always Up are trademarks of NetPhone, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.