New Network Service Provider Selects IDNX Multiservice Backbone to Link 60 Companies in Columbia

Business Wire, July 7, 1997

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1997--N.E.T. announced today that Red Corporativa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, S.A. (RCN Telecom) purchased an N.E.T.(TM) IDNX(R) multiservice backbone network, to provision voice and data services for organizations throughout Colombia. RCN Telecom is an affiliate of the Ardila Lulle organization, one of the five largest business organizations in Colombia. RCN Telecom will be the primary network service provider for the 60 Colombian companies affiliated with Ardila Lulle.

The IDNX backbone network, valued at $1.5 million, was part of a contract awarded to Ericsson de Colombia, S.A. Ericsson, a strategic business partner of N.E.T., distributes and supports the N.E.T. IDNX multiservice bandwidth managers worldwide. The nationwide RCN Telecom network will provide voice and data services to a wide range of businesses including financial services, radio and television, consumer beverages, and transportation. When fully implemented, the network will connect nine major Colombian commerce centers, including Bogota, Medellin and Cali. Network installation is in progress and will be completed in the third quarter of 1997.

"As a new network service provider, RCN Telecom had a number of criteria for its primary WAN platform including reliability, availability and flexibility in provisioning services. After careful analysis, the IDNX multiservice backbone was selected for the RCN network," said Isaias Proveda, general manager, RCN Telecom. "In effect, we have had live network tests ongoing for some time -- since Coltefinanciera, a major banking organization and Ardilla Lulle affiliate -- has had success with an IDNX network for the past several years."

RCN will use the IDNX multiservice backbone to provision voice and data services that are supported by advanced technologies such as ISDN and Frame Relay switching, voice compression and LAN interconnection. An additional advantage offered by the IDNX system is its interconnectivity between Ericsson MD110 PBXs and PBXs from other vendors. The N.E.T. PrimeVoice(TM) ISDN module provides transparent ISDN feature support (such as faster call set-up and caller line identification) for PBXs connected to the IDNX network. With PrimeVoice ISDN services, Class-of-Service features on PBXs can be configured based on the origination or destination of the call. The network manager can specify call priority, voice compression type, and routing requirements, on a call-by-call basis, for better overall control of network resources.

Enhanced channelized trunking capabilities for the IDNX backbone allows RCN Telecom to more efficiently aggregate sub-T1/E1 traffic. This capability creates multiple Nx64 kb/s trunks within a single T1 or E1 transmission span which can greatly reduce local access toll charges. This channelized trunk allows organizations to use fewer hardware interfaces and fewer T1/E1 spans when utilizing carriers' or network service providers' grooming, switching and fractional T1/E1 services worldwide.

The N.E.T. family of multiservice bandwidth managers consists of five models with sophisticated networking functions that combine efficient multiplexing, intelligent call-routing, LAN internetworking and routing, ATM, frame relay switching, ISDN signaling and network management.

N.E.T., headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., is a leading worldwide supplier of multiservice wide area networks used by enterprises, government organizations and carriers in more than 50 countries. N.E.T. multiservice WANs and ATM products integrate voice, data, and video traffic with ATM, frame relay, LAN internetworking and ISDN capabilities for today's mission-critical applications. The company is certified to the worldwide ISO 9001 standard for design, manufacturing and servicing. Join us at our worldwide web site: http://www.net.com for further information. -0-

Note To Editors: N.E.T., PrimeVoice and FrameXpress are trademarks, and IDNX and the N.E.T. logo are registered trademarks of Network Equipment Technologies, Inc.

CONTACT: N.E.T.

Jo Minola, 415/780-5177