Tekelec TekCore(TM) Selected as Reference CSCF for IMS Forum's Inaugural 'IMS Plugfest'.

University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab Taps Tekelec's Open-Standards Session Manager for Multi-Vendor IMS & SIP Interoperability Testing

MORRISVILLE, N.C. -- Tekelec (NASDAQ: TKLC), a leading developer of high-performance network applications for next-generation fixed, mobile and packet networks, today announced that its TekCore Session Manager has been selected by the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL) and the IMS Forum's Interoperability Test Study Group (IMSF-ITSG) for testing with products from the world's leading Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) vendors. TekCore will be one of the reference call session control function (CSCF) and reference session initiation protocol (SIP) implementation platforms for a series of SIP- and IMS-related interoperability tests beginning with the IMS Forum's inaugural 2007 IMS Plugfest for Applications and Services, Jan. 15-19, 2007, at UNH-IOL in Durham, N.H.

Vendor interoperability is critical for the adoption of IMS architecture by allowing operators to select applications best suited to their customer base. The CSCF is the SIP-based signaling and session control platform that sits at the IMS core, where adhering to open standards such as those developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is most important because the CSCF must connect with multiple components within the network architecture.

"Jointly, the IMS Forum and UNH-IOL selected the TekCore Session Manager because it is based on open standards in both software and hardware, allowing operators to source equipment from the vendors of their choice and build an open, best-of-breed, multi-vendor IMS network," said Lincoln Lavoie, UNH-IOL Senior Engineer.

Michael Khalilian, president, IMS Forum and CTO, Pervasip Corp., added, "The telecom industry and the IMS Plugfest participants will benefit from Tekelec's contribution."

TekCore is a SIP-based signaling and session control platform for the IMS core that delivers advanced applications over virtually any network and to any device. The platform is based on the widely deployed SIP Express Router that Tekelec acquired through the purchase of iptelorg in 2005. TekCore is built to 3GPP standards and resides on an industry-standard advanced telecom computing architecture (ATCA) platform, delivering the foundation for open, multimedia networks.

"Tekelec is making a broad and substantial commitment to open-standards-driven SIP and IMS-based SIP reference implementations that remove the proprietary interoperability costs for our customers," said Ronald De Lange, president and general manager of the Tekelec Network Signaling Group. "Unlike other CSCF products that use non-standard SIP implementations, TekCore aligns closely with industry standards and has been designed for IMS from the ground up. We provide the most open and standards-based product on the market."

TekCore is purpose-built with a server-on-a-card architecture integrating an ATCA shelf seamlessly with the existing EAGLE[R] 5 Integrated Signaling System (ISS). The architecture allows Tekelec's extensive global installed base of more than 200 EAGLE customers to leverage existing equipment while deploying next-generation services and applications. When deployed in conjunction with the EAGLE 5 ISS and Tekelec service mediation solution, TekCore provides operators with a way to gracefully migrate to IMS at the signaling layer.

Tekelec also will be testing the Tekelec 6000 Voice over IP (VoIP) Application Server during the event. The SIP-based Tekelec 6000 enables operators to deploy a complete range of next-generation services such as unified messaging, softphone with multimedia capabilities, conferencing, find-me, and intelligent Web portal and voice mail capabilities. Its IP multimedia service control (ISC) interface and SIP profiling capabilities make Tekelec 6000 one of the first feature-rich VoIP application servers to support IMS networks.

IMS Plugfest 2007 is among many SIP/IMS interoperability trials featuring Tekelec technology. In October 2006, the company tested the Tekelec 8000 Converged Multimedia Gateway during the Global MultiService Forum's Interoperability 2006 (GMI) trial in London.

More information about the 2007 IMS Plugfest for Applications and Services is available at www.imsforum.org.

About Tekelec

Tekelec is a high-performance network applications company that is accelerating the transition to Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) networks for service providers around the globe. With its experience at the intersection of network applications and session control, Tekelec creates highly efficient platforms for managing media and delivering network solutions. Corporate headquarters are located near Research Triangle Park in Morrisville, N.C., U.S.A., with research and development facilities and sales offices throughout the world. For more information, please visit www.tekelec.com.