Cirpack's Voice over IP Solutions Gain Significant Traction in Central Europe


Carriers World CEE, Budapest, November 23, 2005 - CIRPACK, Thomson's business unit which leads the market of next generation networks solutions for operators' infrastructures, today announced that it has won contracts for its voice over IP softswitches with six Central European telecommunications service providers, including Nextra, Broadnet and CRa in the Czech Republic; Nextra and Amtel in Slovakia; AMIS in Slovenia and Croatia and GTS in Romania. The contract wins provide further evidence of Cirpack's leadership in the market of core network equipment enabling innovative voice services to be delivered quickly and cost effectively.

Growing Telecoms Market in Central and Eastern Europe

On the back of major economic growth and membership of an enlarged European Union, many Central and Eastern European countries are currently undergoing a period of intense telecom infrastructure modernisation. The Cirpack range of voice over IP softswitches offers a compelling solution to the challenges faced by operators in the region as it provides a platform which can deliver both legacy telecoms services and newer voice over IP services as providers build out the broadband networks to support them. In addition the low costs involved in deploying and operating Cirpack switches makes them attractive to service providers looking to rapidly deploy new services and acquire new customers.

Central and Eastern European Operators Investing In Thomson Technology

Nextra's Czech and Slovakian operations, both subsidiaries of Telenor Central Europe, are the latest in a line of impressive customer wins in Central Europe. Thomson's Cirpack softswitches were selected for deployment across Nextra's network operations in support of the deployment of voice over IP services to both business and residential customers. Nextra will also use the IP Centrex features offered by the Cirpack softswitches to provide managed voice services to business customers. IP Centrex enables the operator to provide business phone services that would previously have required that the customer invest in and install a PBX device on their premises.

Cirpack softswitches have also been deployed by AMIS in Slovenia and Croatia. AMIS offers broadband DSL and pre-standard WiMAX services to customers and has deployed a true triple play service over its network. Cirpack switches are used to support all voice over IP traffic and terminate this traffic to the legacy telephone network. AMIS has been offering triple-play services in Slovenia for some time and has recently deployed further Cirpack switches to launch similar services in Croatia.

Broadnet of the Czech Republic is using Cirpack softswitches to deliver IP Centrex services to business customers over a fixed broadband wireless access network. Broadnet, a Comcast subsidiary, is also using the Cirpack softswitch to offer ISDN services connecting legacy PBXs, and ensuring seamless voice services between all these technologies and the public telephone network.

"These impressive contract wins are testament to the performance of the Cirpack product range, which is now at the heart of telecom infrastructures all across Europe, including fast growing Central European countries," said Jean-Pierre Dumolard, General Manager of the Cirpack Business Unit at Thomson. "Together with Thomson, we can provide complete end-to-end VoIP or triple play solutions to help telecom service providers enter new markets with quicker time to market and launch innovative services to gain that all-important leading edge."

About CIRPACK
CIRPACK, Thomson's Next Generation Networks business unit, develops voice switching platforms that can be connected to TDM, ATM and IP networks to deliver advanced phone services to all types of subscribers simultaneously and provide seamless migration of wireline networks to IMS/TISPAN architectures. It provides carrier-grade reliability, scalability and regulatory features for massive deployments of broadband telephony and IP Centrex, for instance, as well as of legacy PSTN infrastructures delivering ISDN or POTS services. CIRPACK works with industry leaders such as IBM Global Services to provide global solutions. With over 2 million Class-5 licences deployed, and some 60 telco customers in 25 countries, CIRPACK is the largest softswitch vendor in Europe and third largest worldwide. For more information, please visit www.cirpack.com.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Fabien MAISL
Director of Marketing, CIRPACK
fmaisl@cirpack.com
Tel.: +33 141 44 37 82

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