Siemens Introduces Corporate Voice-Over-IP Solution; Hicom Xpress Telephony Internet Server Can Reduce Trunk Line Expenses by Enabling Voice and Real-Time Fax Calls Over Corporate Intranet or Internet

Business Wire, Sept 25, 1997

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 1997--Siemens Business Communication Systems today introduced the Hicom Xpress Telephony Internet Server (TIS), which enables end users to place voice and real-time fax calls over a corporate intranet or the Internet.

"With this solution, Siemens brings its customers superior voice quality and real-time fax over an IP network," said Vince Rafferty, director, InfoTech Consulting Inc., a leading industry research and consulting firm. "By providing alternate trunking over the corporate IP infrastructure or the Internet, Siemens is enabling its customers to cut costs by reducing the number of telephone company trunk facilities they need to lease."

According to predictions by market research firms IDC, Forrester Research, Frost & Sullivan and the Aberdeen Group, Internet telephony is expected to be deployed by 70% of Fortune 1000 companies by the year 2000, and, in the same time frame, is expected to reach 8.5 billion minutes of use in the U.S. and four billion minutes of use internationally.

Siemens' TIS, incorporating components from Vienna Systems Corporation, allows voice and real-time fax calls initiated from a PBX to be routed over an IP network. By effectively providing alternate trunks over the corporate IP infrastructure or the Internet, the TIS reduces the number of leased telephone lines required, thus lowering users' long distance costs. Siemens also plans to provide phone-to-phone, real-time fax-to-fax, PC-to-phone, phone-to-PC and PC-to-PC communications over the Intranet/Internet infrastructure.

Transparent access to the IP trunks of Siemens' new Hicom Xpress TIS is made possible by the automatic route selection software on Siemens' recently introduced Hicom 300 E communications server. With this advanced capability, end-users can continue to use their corporate private numbering plans. Users do not need to change the way they operate their telephones.

The Siemens Hicom Xpress TIS is fully non-blocking and can handle up to 46 calls simultaneously. It delivers toll-quality voice with an end-to-end delay of only 100 msec and a greatly reduced bandwidth CODEC (coder/decoder) using only 7.3 kbps per voice channel. The product supports standard T1/PRI interfaces to a PBX and most of the popular LAN interfaces to the IP network. E-1 is anticipated for delivery in early 1998.

Delivering real-time fax service on any port on a call-by-call basis, the Universal Voice/Fax Line feature of the TIS allows any line to start out as a voice call and switch to fax. PSTN fallback, the ability to reroute calls back through the PBX transparently, is supported when the IP network is congested at the time of call setup. The Siemens Hicom Xpress telephony Internet server is expected to be available in March, 1998. Pricing ranges from $22,850 for a TIS system with 12 voice ports to $71,350 for a high-end system with 46 voice and 28 fax ports.

"This voice-over-IP solution complements our suite of communications products," said Bharat Dave, senior vice president of marketing at Siemens Business Communications. "Our customers now have access to network-independent, end-to-end multimedia applications," added Dave Siemens announced in August that it would be providing a solution for the AimQuest GRIC consortium, and that this product would be part of Siemens' offering to meet the needs of consortium members.

Siemens Business Communication Systems

From switching systems to networks to the internet, Siemens Business Communications provides a simple path to advanced solutions that turn diverse technologies into practical applications for such major sectors as call centers, healthcare, education, utilities, retail, public sector and finance.

The company represents Siemens Private Communications Systems, the world's largest supplier of private telecommunications systems, with annual sales of approximately $5.8 billion, more than 500,000 customers and a million systems installed. Telecommunications and networking accounted for more than 20 percent of Siemens' sales of $63.6 billion in the fiscal year 1995/96. -0-

Note to Editors: Hicom is a registered trademark of Siemens AG. Hicom Xpress is a trademark of Siemens AG.

CONTACT: Siemens Business Communications Systems, Inc.

Ed Rebello, 408/492-6999 (Public Relations)

ed.rebello@siemenscom.com