US LEC Continues Juniper Networks Router Deployment; Carrier Utilizing Juniper Networks E- and M-Series to Continue Its Introduction of Innovative IP-Based Business Services.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:JNPR) today announced that US LEC (NASDAQ:CLEC), a telecommunications carrier serving businesses and enterprise organizations throughout the Eastern United States, is in the final stages of upgrading its secure and assured Juniper Networks routing infrastructure. The Juniper Networks E- and M-series routing platforms will enable US LEC to offer a wider range of MPLS-based business services that will include highly reliable MPLS-based VPNs, voice over IP (VoIP) and Ethernet-based Internet access and business communications.

Earlier this year, US LEC selected Juniper Networks E- and M-series routing platforms for their industry-leading performance, reliability and scalability. These characteristics, combined with Juniper Networks' advanced quality of service (QoS) capabilities, enable US LEC to provide its customers with the availability and throughput needed to support mission-critical business applications and high-quality voice and video services over a converged IP/MPLS infrastructure.

"US LEC customers demand flexibility and security from the data networks that serve as the lifeline of their businesses," said Jeff Blackey, senior vice president of marketing and business development for US LEC. "We recognized the challenge growing businesses face linking multiple office locations to corporate resources, especially when each location may have its own evolving needs in terms of bandwidth and network performance. Our MPLS VPN operates over a secure network that is optimized for each customer and uses priority queuing to adjust, moment by moment, to the demands of priority applications. US LEC delivers an efficient solution that enables us to offer QoS on our IP-based traffic, and a clear migration path from legacy technology to MPLS."

With the Juniper Networks routing platforms, US LEC prioritizes network traffic based on application type, delivers assured bandwidth streams and allows delay-sensitive IP voice and video communications to remain crisp and clear even under periods of network congestion. In addition, Juniper Networks industry-leading support for MPLS traffic engineering and ATM/Frame Relay interworking will enable the US LEC network to grow and meet future demands seamlessly and cost-effectively, leveraging existing facilities and adding IP MPLS backbone capacity as needed on an incremental basis.

US LEC's MPLS VPN service supports quality of service guarantees, enabling the prioritization of traffic according to customer requirements. For instance, traffic such as CRM applications and voice receive higher priority designations due to each application's delay-sensitive nature. When prioritized traffic decreases, other traffic travels over available bandwidth, enabling full use of the bandwidth investment. Since the MPLS VPN bandwidth is scalable, customers only buy the bandwidth required, reducing unnecessary costs. As requirements increase, the customer can purchase more bandwidth.

Juniper Networks E-series Broadband Services Routers and M-series multiservice routing platforms together deliver a comprehensive portfolio of advanced features that uniquely combine best-in-class IP/MPLS capabilities with unmatched reliability, performance, and scalability. Both platforms are deployed in the world's largest networks, and consistently support a wide range of advanced service offerings, including voice, video and data.

"As a leading CLEC, US LEC understands the value that advanced IP/MPLS services bring to business consumers, and they are offering innovative, cost-effective services to customers in their footprint," said Kim Perdikou, vice president and associate general manager, Infrastructure Products Group, Juniper Networks. "We are very pleased that US LEC has deployed Juniper Networks core and edge routing platforms to support their services with industry-leading quality of service and performance."

This latest deployment expands upon US LEC's existing Juniper Networks routing platforms, completing US LEC's upgrade to a secure and assured Juniper Networks routing infrastructure.

About US LEC

Based in Charlotte, N.C., US LEC is a leading telecommunications carrier providing integrated voice, data and Internet services to medium and large businesses and enterprise organizations throughout 16 Eastern states and the District of Columbia. US LEC services include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service; advanced data services such as Metro MPLS VPN, Ethernet, Frame Relay, Multi-Link Frame Relay and ATM; dedicated and dial-up Internet services; managed data and data backup solutions; data center services; conferencing and Web hosting; and local and long distance calling services. US LEC also offers selected voice services in 26 additional states and provides enhanced data services, selected Internet services and MegaPOP(R) (local dial-up Internet access for ISPs) nationwide. For more information about US LEC, visit www.uslec.com.

About Juniper Networks, Inc.

Juniper Networks is the leader in enabling secure and assured communications over a single IP network. The company's purpose-built, high performance IP platforms enable customers to support many different services and applications at scale. Service providers, enterprises, governments and research and education institutions worldwide rely on Juniper Networks to deliver products for building networks that are tailored to the specific needs of their users, services and applications. Juniper Networks' portfolio of proven networking and security solutions supports the complex scale, security and performance requirements of the world's most demanding networks. Additional information can be found at www.juniper.net.

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