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Cisco
Systems and iBasis Join Forces
To Deliver IP-Based, VoCore Solution
iBasis
to Host Cisco uOne™ Application for Service Providers
EffectNet to Service Initial Customer Deployments
Beginning Q2 2000
SAN
JOSE, Calif. and BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 3, 2000—Cisco
Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and iBasis (NASDAQ: IBAS) today
announced that they are joining forces to deliver
carrier-class, IP-based, VoCore services. The Cisco
VoCore (UC) solution uses the open Internet Protocol
(IP) standard to unify communications methods that
were previously disjointed e-mail, fax machines, voice
mail systems, cellular phones, and the Web. The Cisco
Open Network Exchange (uOne™)
application, a pivotal component of Cisco's overall
UC solution, enables users to initiate and return
voice calls and send and receive faxes, e-mail, and
voice messages independent of location, time or device.
iBasis, the leader in advanced Internet-based communications,
will deploy the uOne™
application on its global IP network and make UC services
available to service providers worldwide. EffectNet,
a rapidly growing application service provider and
Cisco Powered Network partner will be the first iBasis
partner to provide the Cisco uOne™
solution to its customers. With customer orders for
50,000 uOne™
mailboxes,
initial deployments are expected to begin in the second
quarter of 2000.
Cisco
Systems: Expanding the Power of Communications
"As the Internet reshapes
the global telecommunications industry, iBasis and
EffectNet understand that VoCore will be a key factor
in building the New World of communications,"
said Don Listwin, Executive Vice President, Cisco
Systems. "Today's announcement brings iBasis
and EffectNet together with an ecosystem of partners
to expand and simplify Internet communications using
the Cisco uOne™
application."
Offering
all the benefits of a truly converged solution, uOne™
provides voice mail over IP, fax mail over IP, and
e-mail. Other features include:
 Voice
Messaging: |
Call
answer on busy/no answer, full-featured voice
messaging, PC and
telephone access, Web-based system administration |
| Total
Messaging: |
User
administration via Web, inbound fax, fax redirect/outbound
fax,
text-to-speech (fax headers, e-mail) |
| Notification
Services: |
Subscriber
notification indicates new incoming messages |
| Call
Services: |
Outbound
call management features for calling services,
personal access
reach, and outbound dialing from voice messaging
platform or from within a voice message |
Unlike unified messaging solutions built on a voice
messaging industry heritage, the Cisco UC solution
is built on Internet standards and platforms. Cisco
integrates the best features of the voice network
(through Cisco gateways to time-division multiplexing)
with the flexibility and reliability of the most established
data application in the Internet-e-mail. These voice
mail and email benefits are combined using the fundamental
open protocols of the Internet-IP, Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol (SMTP), Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
(MIME), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP),
and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
The uOne™
platform is further enhanced by the Cisco ecosystem,
which includes best-of-breed technology and service
providers that extend and customize Cisco solutions.
Current ecosystem providers deliver message store,
directory, and text-to-speech capabilities that complement
uOne™.
iBasis: Hosting
Global Internet-Based Communication Solutions
iBasis has built the world's
first global IP network that guarantees toll quality
voice and fax service. Toll quality is the telecommunications
industry term for the highest level of service quality.
iBasis is also the only Internet-based communications
provider to guarantee service quality with the industry's
first service level agreement for Voice-over-Internet-Protocol
(VoIP).
In December 1999 iBasis announced Internet Telephony
HostingTM to enable other service providers to quickly
offer VoIP services. With today's announcement, iBasis
is broadening Internet Telephony Hosting to include
UC solutions. With iBasis Internet Telephony Hosting,
service providers have access to comprehensive, customizable
communications solutions that enable them to quickly
begin offering voice, fax, prepaid calling, and other
value-added VoIP services, including UC. Internet
Telephony Hosting offers service providers access
to the powerful iBasis global telephony infrastructure,
including the use of iBasis' VoIP equipment located
in the company's Internet central offices, high-quality
Internet backbone, Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN) termination, and the Operational Support Systems
(OSS) necessary for traffic management, reporting,
and customer billing.
"We realized from the start that Internet telephony's
greatest potential was its ability to deliver advanced
communications services to a variety of devices, with
one global network," said Ofer Gneezy, President
and CEO of iBasis. "Our strategic relationship
with Cisco has enabled us to dramatically accelerate
the delivery of advanced, Internet-based communications
services."
The iBasis-Cisco UC solution already has attracted
significant customer interest. Deployments are expected
to begin in the second quarter of this year. By hosting
UC, iBasis enables service providers to provide new
higher-margin services, reduce churn, and increase
air time.
iBasis is expanding its global network, already the
world's largest international Cisco Powered Network
for Internet telephony, by deploying new points of
presence, operational support services and Cisco hardware
and software to deliver uOne™
advanced capabilities to service providers worldwide.
"With its unmatched global network, unique ability
to provide service to tier-one carriers, to guarantee
that quality with the industry's first service level
agreement for VoIP, and host advanced services on
its network, iBasis is the clear choice to be the
first Internet communications provider to offer VoCore
with us," said Bill Wolfe, General Manager/Senior
Director, Cisco VoCore Software Business Unit.
EffectNet: Service
Provider For Initial Deployments
Service delivery and customer
support for initial deployments will be provided by
EffectNet, a rapidly growing applications service
provider based in Phoenix, Arizona.
EffectNet will provide support for intial deployments
with its world-class customer contact center. The
EffectNet state-of-the-art support solution employs
Cisco's ICM Software technology, integrated with EffectNet's
broad range of open system technologies and service
offerings into a comprehensive, customer care environment.
"We are very pleased to be partnering with industry
leaders like Cisco and iBasis on the initial deployments
of VoCore for our customers," said Taj Reneau,
CEO of EffectNet. "With our service delivery
expertise and world-class customer contact center,
EffectNet offers the expert 24X7 customer care necessary
to ensure that the nearly universal access provided
by these solutions remains available at all times."
Rapidly Growing
Demand for VoCore
Today more than one billion
personal messages arrive daily through mailboxes,
answering machines, and PCs in the United States alone.
Around the world, there has been explosive growth
in the use of mobile communications devices such as
pagers, cellular phones, and Web-enabled Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs) and growing demand for technologies
that enable the convergence of proliferating message
types. According to research by Ovum Ltd., a leading
industry analyst firm, there will be 170 million unified
messaging subscribers by 2006.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is the
worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News
and information are available at the Cisco Press Room
at www.cisco.com.
About iBasis
Founded in 1996, iBasis is
the leader in advanced Internet-based communications.
iBasis uniquely combines a superior technology platform,
premium Internet bandwidth and proprietary Assured
Quality Routing™ (AQR) software to deliver advanced,
Internet-based communications services to tier one
carriers and other service providers. The iBasis Network™,
a global, high-capacity Internet communications network,
is the world's largest international Cisco Powered
Network for Internet Telephony. The company can be
reached at its worldwide headquarters in Burlington,
Mass. at 781-505-7500 or on the Internet at www.ibasis.net.
iBasis has a long-standing strategic relationship
with Cisco, as an alliance partner, an ecosystem partner,
and one of only 21 Cisco service provider global accounts.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations,
projections and assumptions contained in the foregoing
press release constitute forward-looking statements
under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 and involve risks and uncertainties. Important
factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from such forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, the considerations described
as "Risk Factors" in iBasis' prospectus
dated Nov. 9, 1999, and the company's other SEC filings.
About EffectNet
EffectNet, founded in 1998,
is a privately held communications service provider
that offers private-label Internet and telecommunications
products and services, including carrier-class UC
and a growing line of value-added services. EffectNet
also provides private label in-house customer service,
billing and technical support through its state-of-the-art
customer contact center. EffectNet is headquartered
in Phoenix, Arizona and can be reached at 602-296-3300
or on the Internet at www.effectnet.com.
###
Copyright
© 2000 Cisco Systems, Inc. All right reserved. Cisco,
Cisco IOS, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems
logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems,
Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S and certain other
countries. iBasis, iBasis Internet Telephony Hosting,
The iBasis Network and Assured Quality Routing are
registered trademarks of iBasis, Inc. All other
trademarks mentioned in this document are the property
of their respective owners. The use of the word
partner does not imply a partnership relationship
between Cisco and any of its resellers. (9912R).
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