SITA Adds NexTone's Session Management Technology to the World's First Air Transport Industry-Specific Voice Exchange.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- NexTone[R], the leader in intelligent and scalable session management solutions for IP and IMS network interconnects, announced today that SITA, the world's leading provider of IT business solutions and communications services to the air transport industry, has deployed NexTone's session management technology for the company's Voice Exchange service.

SITA's Voice Exchange service enables VoIP traffic - whether originated by an IP-based end point or media gateway - to be optimally routed based on an ENUM (the mapping of a telephone number from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to Internet functionalities) response and geographic location of the receiving or target end point. The service's policy is to allow subscribers to access their service no matter what type of network used - VPN, public Internet, or airline partner network.

Utilizing NexTone's Multiprotocol Session Exchange's (MSX) advanced session border control functionality, SITA's Voice Exchange enables its customers (airlines, aircraft manufacturers, airports, airport authorities, aerospace companies, and travel agents) to securely and easily peer with one another over a common global network. SITA's service enables these customers to bypass the traditional PSTN; link islands of distributed locations together into one common service; significantly reduce the costs of intra- and inter-airline telephony costs; and integrate with existing SITA IP-based infrastructure and related services.

NexTone's intelligent session border controller, with embedded session management technology, not only allows SITA to introduce new services such as voice VPNs and IP-Centrex to their existing customer base, it also addresses management issues and the complexities, namely latency and jitter, associated with IP networks to ensure consistent QoS for real-time VoIP sessions. In addition, SITA leverages NexTone to authenticate and authorize subscribers, as well as differentiate which access network is being utilized and apply different QoS policies based on this information.

NexTone enables SITA to provide and deliver simultaneous hosted IP telephony and SIP Trunking services that are offered to SITA's community of air transport industry customers. These capabilities include service and user mobility; security; centralized dial plan management; SIP Trunking with media steering; IP PBX interoperability and interworking; and SLA and QoS threshold management.

COMMENTARY

Denis Berger, head of product line, SITA - "We needed a scalable solution that could integrate different protocols, while at the same time fix signaling variations for interoperability. NexTone's MSX and RSM products not only meet these interoperability requirements, but further extend the overall quality of SITA's voice and convergence services. Today, members of the Air Transport Industry can now call and be called on the Voice Exchange community without any per minute charge. Calls can be made from any device, including IP Phones (hardware), PC or PDA/smartphones, dual GSM/Wi-Fi mobile phones, or legacy PBX telephones."

Dan Dearing, VP of marketing, NexTone - "Service providers and enterprises are rapidly adopting VoIP peering to interconnect their VoIP and IMS networks. SITA is at the forefront of this networking phenomenon. NexTone's intelligent SBC technology provides SITA with VoIP policy management and enforcement capabilities to ensure guaranteed service delivery, geographic service redundancy, and overall network performance within their peering environment."

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About SITA

SITA is the world's leading service provider of IT business solutions and communications services to the air transport industry. SITA manages complex communication solutions for its air transport, government and GDS customers over the world's most extensive communication network, complemented by consultancy in the design, deployment and integration of communication services. Its broad range of airline and airport IT applications and services includes airport operations and integrated baggage services, common use and desktop services, flight operations and air-to-ground communications and end-to-end airline distribution and fares services.

SITA covers 220 countries and territories and the head office is in Geneva, Switzerland. SITA had aggregated revenues of US$ 1.554 billion in 2005 ([euro] 1.295 billion).

Further information can be found at www.sita.aero.

About NexTone

NexTone[R] develops intelligent session management and interconnect systems for service providers who want to rapidly expand their reach and accelerate VoIP and multimedia revenues. NexTone's IntelliConnect System provides service providers with visibility and intelligence to exchange, optimize, secure and bill for voice and multimedia sessions flowing across diverse IP and IMS network boundaries. More than 550 service providers and enterprises worldwide use NexTone's IntelliConnect System to manage technical complexities, optimize business economics, and remove partnership hurdles. NexTone is a recipient of the Maryland Technology Champions Awards for 2006. The company ranks number one in Deloitte's 2006 Technology Fast 50 Program for Maryland, and is one of the Top 50 companies for Deloitte's 2006 Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in North America. NexTone is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, with domestic and international offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.nextone.com.