Clarent Corporation Selected to Build Nationwide IP Telephony Network Connecting Universities in Taiwan for National Broadband Experimental Network Project

Business Wire, Dec 7, 1999

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 1999--

Clarent(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:CLRN), a worldwide leader in providing carrier-grade, phone-to-phone Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solutions, has been selected by the Taiwan National Telecommunication Programme Office (NTPO) to build a nationwide IP telephony network connecting the universities in Taiwan through the National Broadband Experimental Network (NBEN) programme in that country.

This IP telephony network is intended to provide a number of benefits to Taiwan. It is planned to be a test bed for Internet phone associated with the testing programme in universities. Also, it is planned to provide the foundation for new communications features that could be made available to the students, faculty and administration at these universities.

Most importantly, it places a significant application of next generation network technology into the research infrastructure of one of the world's leading countries involved in manufacturing high technology products. The converged voice, fax and data traffic in this university-based network will run across the NBEN -- the high speed network used for research activities in Taiwan.

"Clarent is very honoured to have this opportunity to provide our products to the universities in Taiwan," said Jerry Chang, CEO and president, Clarent Corporation.

"We have focused on providing our technology to carriers around the world, with a particular initial focus on the Asia Pacific region. We are very pleased to extend the benefits of Clarent products to the universities in Taiwan and see this as the potential foundation for implementation of our products with other national university networks around the world. Universities play a key role in the development and advancement of new technologies, particularly technologies related to the Internet. This is a very exciting application for Clarent products."

"We are looking forward to bringing this next generation network technology to our universities and research centers in Taiwan," said Dr. Chi Fu Den, the Principal Investigator of the National Telecommunication Development Program.

"Taiwan, through its public, private and university sectors, is committed to implementing state of the art products in our communications infrastructure. We consider Clarent products to be among the best products in this industry."

The implementation of Clarent products in this network is being managed through a next generation telecommunications program established by the Taiwan NTPO. The initial phases of this network are planned to turn up in the first quarter of 2000.

Forward Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements regarding Clarent's products, business, customers or other factors that may affect future earnings or financial results. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to potential issues relating to interoperability, inability to introduce new products, ability to retain key customers, changes in market conditions, government regulations, the international communications industry, technological changes and other factors, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described further in the risk factors discussed in Clarent's recent Prospectus, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 23, 1999.

About Clarent Corporation

Clarent Corporation is a premier provider of scalable, IP telephony products to carriers and Internet service providers around the world. Clarent's intelligent, open architecture and the Clarent Command Center enable Clarent products to route, manage, inter-connect and terminate high volumes of calls for service provider customers including the world's largest long distance telecommunication companies.

More minutes travel across Clarent-enabled IP telephony networks worldwide than those of any other equipment supplier(1).

Founded in July 1996 and publicly owned since July 1999, Clarent is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. and has offices in major cities in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. Additional information about Clarent is available at http://www.clarent.com.

Note to Editors: Clarent is a registered trademark of Clarent Corporation in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other company or product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

(1) "IP Telephony Clearinghouses - A New Business Model." Published November 1999 by iLocus. iLocus, a division of Cape Saffron Ltd., is a UK-based research group focused on the IP telephony industry. http://www.ilocus.com