Yipes Chooses LuxN for DWDM Services; LuxN's Advanced Technology Will Let Yipes Support Multiple Protocols and Enhance SLAs.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO & SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2001

Yipes Communications, Inc., the defining provider of scalable bandwidth on demand, has chosen LuxN's WavSystem platform to enable Dense Wave Division Multiplexing over its optical IP networks, the companies announced today. In addition to multiplying the bandwidth available in Yipes' regional networks, LuxN's unique products will allow Yipes to carry multiple protocols and introduce industry-leading network monitoring capabilities to enhance service level agreements (SLAs).

LuxN's cost-effective DWDM equipment, including its WavStation (WS 3234), WavFarer (WS3217) and WS 3208 products, will support up to 16 separate wavelengths over Yipes' core regional networks, each running at speeds up to OC-48 (2.5 Gigabits per second) and migrating to OC-192 (10 Gigabits per second) later this year. As Yipes' network traffic grows, particularly in regions where fiber supply is limited, LuxN's products will help ensure Yipes' leadership in affordable, scalable network services.

By combining LuxN's DWDM solution with existing optical Ethernet infrastructure supporting multi-gigabit capacity from Extreme Network, Inc., Yipes delivers multiple high-bandwidth services with more flexibility, faster provisioning and lower cost than legacy telco offerings. "With LuxN and Extreme Networks technology, Yipes offers best-of-class Gigabit Ethernet optical networks to provide its customers with high-speed services," said Sam Halabi, Vice President of IP Carrier Marketing and Business Development for Extreme Networks.

LuxN's protocol-independent solution will also allow Yipes to meet immediate customer needs by carrying a wide variety of traffic types in addition to native Ethernet, including storage services such as Fibre Channel and TDM-based services such as OC-x. Extending the inherent flexibility of Yipes' architecture, LuxN's products will permit customers to change protocols as well as bandwidth on the fly. Unlike more traditional and limiting packet-over-SONET approaches to DWDM, LuxN's equipment introduces almost no latency into Yipes' managed wavelength services.

Yipes will also be the first network to implement LuxN's Optical Service Level Management (OSLM) platform, which is based on LuxN's breakthrough, patented technique for optical signal integrity monitoring, called ColorSIM. This optical-layer technology will allow Yipes to enhance customer SLAs by monitoring bit-error rates in real time at multi-gigabit speeds, regardless of data protocol. Yipes will be able to detect any signal degradation at the physical layer and respond before customers are adversely affected, guaranteeing superior service reliability. These unique network management tools will be continuously available to Yipes' Network Operations Centers, which run 24x7 to ensure the highest level of network performance.

"Yipes is the first emerging service provider to announce plans to offer SLAs based on the optical physical layer. This is quite an innovation, for both Yipes and LuxN," said Marian Stasney, Sr. Analyst at the Yankee Group. "Using LuxN's ColorSIM technology, Yipes can proactively monitor bit streams at Layer One, regardless of protocol, which will allow Yipes to differentiate itself by offering superior service quality."

"Using LuxN's OSLM, Yipes can expand its services and customer base by offering SLA monitoring and management for wavelength-based services that are superior to traditional legacy networks," said Tom Alexander, President and CEO of LuxN. "Our partnership with Yipes provides us the opportunity to refine and improve our capabilities to meet the needs of the emerging carrier market's new leader.

"LuxN's DWDM solution will let Yipes expand its uniquely flexible and affordable service in a new dimension," said Dr. Kamran Sistanizadeh, Chief Technology Officer of Yipes. "The ability to support multiple protocols over our managed wavelength services will help us serve customers with demanding applications such as storage networks that are not yet optimized for IP. And LuxN's unique optical-layer management features will reinforce Yipes' reputation for reliable, proactive service."

Yipes is the defining provider of managed optical IP networks. Yipes leverages the elegance of native Ethernet technology to provide Just-In-Time Bandwidth(SM) that is smoothly and quickly scalable from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps (in 1 Mbps increments), enabling the next generation of Internet services. Yipes' highly affordable services, currently available in 20 markets coast-to-coast, include Yipes MAN (metro area networking), Yipes WAN (wide area networking), Yipes NET (high-speed Internet access), Yipes WALL (managed firewall service) and Yipes WEB (e-commerce infrastructure). Yipes is building the first Application-Aware Network(SM), which will empower customers to manage bandwidth and quality of service on a real-time, application-specific basis. Yipes has received $291 million in funding from more than 30 investors including Norwest Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), The Sprout Group/CSFB, Charter Growth Capital, JP Morgan Partners, BancBoston Capital, Soros Private Equity Partners, Focus Capital and Intel Capital. Yipes has been honored for innovation and excellence by America's Network, Computerworld, Inter@ctive Week, The Net Economy, Network Magazine, Red Herring, tele.com and Telephony magazines. The company is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.yipes.com.

LuxN, Inc. is a leading provider of multi-service, intelligent, optical access network platforms. LuxN's products allow service providers and enterprise customers with access to optical fiber to easily extend their LANs up to 125 Km between nodes. By utilizing the WDM capability of the products, up to 16 channels of traffic can be aggregated on a single fiber pair, providing improved fiber lease economics. OC-3/12/48, Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, 10/100 BaseT and T-1 can all easily be accommodated. LuxN solutions are also a cost-effective way for local service providers to extend their managed optical networks from metropolitan points of presence to enterprise customer premises. The company was founded in 1998 and funded by prominent IT venture partners including New Enterprise Associates, US Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Azure Capital Partners and Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity. Additional funding was received through corporate partnerships with Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Siemens. LuxN is proud to be a certified ISO 9001 manufacturer. For more information, visit the LuxN website at www.luxn.com or call 408-328-4500.