WaveSmith Networks Takes New High Ground With Frame Relay Price, Performance, And Density.

Business/Technology Editors

ACTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2002

Company Introduces Packet Forwarding Module(TM) for the Distributed

Node (DN)(TM) Multiservice Switch Product Family

WaveSmith Networks, an emerging company focused on redefining multiservice switching for carriers, announced today its Frame Relay capabilities for the DN(TM) multiservice switch product family. With today's announcement, WaveSmith raises the performance and profitability of a long-entrenched and still-growing market, enabling carriers to offer the most advanced and cost effective Frame Relay services with seamless IP/MPLS integration.

According to a recent study conducted by Vertical Systems Group, the worldwide market opportunity for Frame Relay services is expected to be over $15 billion in 2002 and grow to more than $21 billion by 2004. Additionally, the Frame Relay market is currently dominated by the Interexchange Carriers (IXCs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). As Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) receive regulatory relief in long distance, they will target the long-haul national Frame Relay market. The end result will be a highly competitive battle to offer Frame Relay services at lower costs, while extending reach.

This Frame Relay build-out will be shortsighted with today's Frame Relay products as they have seen little to no innovation in recent years in terms of price, density, and reliability. Plus, today's solutions cannot scale to accommodate the down-market penetration of the RBOCs, and most importantly, will not be able to support a hybrid ATM and IP/MPLS core network.

"Frame Relay has truly been a sleeper market. Over the next several years the RBOCs could capture 20-40% of a $15+ billion market, forcing the IXCs and ISPs to compete on price," said Chad Dunn, co-founder and director of product management at WaveSmith Networks. "We feel that the current state of Frame Relay gear does not support this massive build-out in a number of key areas. With today's announcement, WaveSmith is the first emerging company offering a solution that will allow carriers to offer Frame Relay services at an unmatched price point with significant operational savings."

WaveSmith's Packet Forwarding Module(TM) (PFM) offers a full suite of Frame Relay, Frame Relay-to-ATM, and IP/MPLS services that average one-third the cost-per-port of legacy multiservice switches and 2-4 times the density with access interfaces ranging from DS0 to OC-12c. WaveSmith's PFM supports a wide array of redundancy options including 1:1 or 1:N protection schemes. Additionally, the PFM runs the WaveCore(TM) OS, which allows it to achieve telephony-grade reliability. All of this can be attained in a form factor that is one-fifth the rack space of incumbent solutions.

"We project our Frame Relay services to continue to grow substantially over the next several years. We have been looking for a vendor to provide a solution that allows us to offer those services to our customers less expensively, but with significant performance and density advancements," said Brian Shearrow, director of network operations at Fiber Network Solutions, Inc. (FNSI). "WaveSmith is one of the first vendors we've seen to offer such compelling frame relay capabilities, especially as compared to legacy multiservice products. The Frame Relay functionality they are proposing would allow us to offer our customers the same services at a lower price point with an increase in performance."

Migration to the Future

WaveSmith's PFM allows carriers to continue to provide both traditional and advanced Frame Relay services with a clear migration path to IP/MPLS. The PFM can switch ATM and Frame Relay natively as well as perform label edge routing onto an MPLS core network. To feed IP core networks, WaveSmith provides Packet over Sonet (POS) as well as Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. The combination of IP/MPLS migration capabilities and high-speed interfaces in the PFM, makes the DN product family the first multiservice switching platform that delivers both traditional and next-generation Frame Relay services with the ability to migrate to next-generation IP/MPLS services.

"The Frame Relay capabilities WaveSmith is demonstrating with their PFM enables both traditional and next-generation Frame Relay service providers to cut capital and operational expenditures and potentially pass these savings on to customers," said Rosemary Cochran, principal of Vertical Systems Group. "Our research has shown steady market demand for Frame Relay services year-over-year and WaveSmith is one of the few start-ups addressing Frame Relay at this level."

Pricing and Availability

WaveSmith's Packet Forwarding Module (PFM) enters into beta trials in Q1 2002 with general availability targeted for Q2 2002. Pricing starts at less than $300.00 per DS1 port.

About WaveSmith's Distributed Node (DN) Multiservice Switch Product Family

The DN multiservice switch family consists of the DN 2100(TM) and DN 4100(TM),which allows carriers to migrate existing services into new IP/MPLS based infrastructures. The DN product family delivers four unique multiservice innovations that significantly advance the state of the art in public networking: form factor, scalability, Telephony-grade reliability, and the Open Call Model(TM).

About WaveSmith Networks

WaveSmith Networks, based in Acton, MA, is focused on redefining multiservice switching that enables carriers to build out their existing infrastructures by rapidly and more efficiently distributing today's new optical core capacity with telephony-grade reliability. WaveSmith's founding assumption is that the multiservice switching segment of the carrier network is in desperate need of a change. WaveSmith is targeting the growth of Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs), Interexchange Carriers (IXCs), Multiple System Operators (MSOs), and tier-1 Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs).

WaveSmith is backed by leading East Coast, West Coast, and international venture capitalists. WaveSmith has raised over $54 million in funding to date. Lead investors include Atlas Venture, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Fidelity Ventures. Other investors include Commonwealth Capital, GATX Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and Venture Investment Management Company LLC (VIMAC). For more information, visit WaveSmith at www.wavesmithnetworks.com.