Shoreline Communications Now Supports 5,000 Users, Raising the Bar for Enterprise-Class IP Voice Communications.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2000

Shoreline Communications, the market leader in enterprise IP voice communications, today announced the capability to support up to 5,000 users -- distributed across virtually any number of locations -- with Release 2.2 of the Shoreline IP Voice Communications System. The new release also provides enhancements that improve the performance of voice communications across the WAN.

"Enterprise customers want a single voice communications system they won't outgrow -- one that will easily connect all users across all locations," said John Fazio, president and CEO of Shoreline Communications. "Shoreline is delivering that capability today through the DIVA architecture, enabling us to establish a leadership position in the market. Moving forward, while other vendors attempt to stall the market with empty promises, Shoreline will continue to deliver increased scalability along with new business communications applications for the enterprise."

The award-winning Shoreline IP Voice Communications System is based on the company's Distributed Internet Voice Architecture (DIVA) software -- a standards-based architecture that leverages ShoreGear IP voice switches to distribute voice communications intelligence throughout the network. The DIVA architecture is infinitely scalable and will continue to support more users with each new release. Release 2.2 for mid-market customers will scale to support 5,000 users by leveraging Shoreline's SoftSwitch technology -- intelligent directory services software that links users across multiple voice domains in the enterprise. The result is a highly reliable solution that can be easily managed as a single, integrated system -- even with users spread across dozens of remote locations.

"One of the reasons we chose Shoreline as our voice communications partner is the inherent scalability of the DIVA architecture," said Sherrie Littlejohn, VP of Information Technology at Yipes Communications, a leading provider of managed optical IP network services. "We are experiencing rapid growth and office expansion throughout the United States. Therefore, the ability to support that growth and integrate all local and remote users into a single voice and data network is vital to our business communications objectives."

The enhanced Shoreline system also delivers two new features that help customers such as Yipes leverage and manage their WAN bandwidth more effectively. First, Shoreline customers can now distribute voice services -- such as voice mail and automated attendant -- across the network and place them closer to large user groups. This reduces WAN bandwidth usage by enabling users to retrieve voice mail messages locally, rather than traversing the WAN. And it gives users the flexibility to support a distributed server architecture that's right for their organization.

Second, the system now supports the G.729 voice compression protocol, which reduces the size of voice packets traveling across the WAN (and therefore, reduces WAN bandwidth consumption). With support of G.729, Shoreline now offers customers the flexibility of multiple protocol choices (including ADPCM and G.711) that customers can configure based on WAN bandwidth and user requirements.

The new system also includes support of a PC-based "softphone," which supports the new MEGACO protocol standard. It provides inexpensive voice network access for any user, and is particularly useful for remote users, teleworkers, and road warriors.

The enhance capabilities of the Shoreline IP Voice Communications System, as well as pricing for the new components of the solution, will be delivered in Q4 of the calendar year.

About Shoreline Communications

Shoreline Communications Inc. has been making IP voice communications a reality in the enterprise since October 1998, shipping more than 30,000 VoIP ports to enterprise and service provider (SP) customers. The award-winning Shoreline IP Voice Communications System is a platform based on Shoreline's Distributed Internet Voice Architecture (DIVA), designed to meet requirements of enterprise and SP customers for scalability, reliability, and manageability. In addition, the Shoreline system provides both a rich set of integrated voice services as well as standards-based interfaces to 3rd party voice applications that enhance personal and organizational productivity. For more information, visit www.goshoreline.com or call 1-877-80SHORE.