Hypercom Unveils Industry's Largest Capacity IP Telephony Gateway; Scalability Cuts Per-Port Deployment Costs Dramatically

Business Wire, March 30, 1999

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 1999--In unveiling its next-generation voice-over-IP technology today, Hypercom Network Systems has dramatically increased the value of IP telephony carriers' investments in gateway technology. Hypercom's new IP.tel CompressionPlus module more than doubles the capacity of IP.tel Voice-over-IP gateways, reducing the cost-per-port of deploying IP telephony to as little as $330. With the new compression module, Hypercom gateways support up to 10 T1/E1 circuits per chassis, or as many as 80 per network node. Besides the huge added value in terms of cost-performance, the new IP.tel configuration achieves the industry's smallest "footprint," so carriers can grow considerably without having to allocate more space to housing gateways.

"As the industry grows and matures, IP telephony carriers are having to invest both in additional gateway capacity for terminating voice circuits and in the addition of features needed to round out services," said Paul Wallner, president, Hypercom Network Systems. "Hypercom's strategy is to minimize capital investment by packing as much value into a single gateway as possible. We've been the first gateway to support carriers with features like IVR and built-in circuit switching; now we've taken capacity to the highest level available today."

At the high end, a Hypercom IP.tel 6000 network node fully configured with CompressionPlus modules can now terminate up to 80 T1/E1s and support up to 2,400 voice channels. The CompressionPlus module provides connectivity interfaces needed to terminate a full T1 or E1 circuit and CSUs (channel service units). The CompressionPlus module can also be used as a traditional circuit switch interface.

Redefining "Carrier Class"

Scalability is a key part of Hypercom's long-term strategy for helping IP telephony carriers optimize cost-of-ownership. Other features of CompressionPlus include: -0-

--   Extensive Signaling Support: Many early adopters of IP telephony
     operate internationally, and carrier signaling can vary from
     country-to-country, and sometimes within countries. In equipping
     numerous multinational networks, CompressionPlus supports an
     extensive list of signaling standards including CAS, DTMF, MFR1,
     MFR2, CCS, Q.931 and Q.SIG.

--   Voice Quality: CompressionPlus delivers the highest possible
     voice quality using industry standard compression algorithms such
     as G.723.1, G.729A, G.711, G.726, and G.727. Hypercom supplements
     these techniques with its own enhanced HyperCoder technology. The
     new modules feature IP.tel's high-quality DSP (Digital Signal
     Processing) compression software, built with the use of
     technology from AudioCodes, a leader in IP telephony voice
     quality enhancement.

--   Management: The CSU of CompressionPlus monitors transmission
     circuits, relaying extensive diagnostics and circuit management
     information through the IP.tel management system. This
     information plays a critical role in protocol prioritization,
     bandwidth allocation, bandwidth utilization and other facets of
     administration that optimize performance.

--   Integrated IVR Functionality: A key facet of Hypercom's
     leadership among providers of international calling and
     card-based services is IP.tel's integrated Interactive Voice
     Response (IVR) capability. CompressionPlus places the IVR
     intelligence at the remote node, reducing reliance on central
     systems. This improves network utilization by keeping
     bandwidth-heavy voice prompts ("please enter your PIN number")
     off the network. It also introduces least-cost routing capability
     at the local gateway level.

--   Network and Node Reliability: Reliability tops the priority list
     of nearly every IP telephony carrier. Hypercom IP.tel addresses
     the issue at both the gateway and network level. The gateway
     architecture is fully redundant, using a parallel processing
     architecture that eliminates a single point of failure. At the
     network level, integrated circuit-switching provides seamless
     back-up via the traditional voice network.

--   Migration Strategy: Besides the obvious benefits to IP telephony
     providers expanding networks, Hypercom's IP.tel architecture
     gives carriers with existing investments in frame relay and other
     technologies a means of adding IP services to their portfolios
     very inexpensively. Since IP.tel supports frame relay and other
     services, simply changing interface cards within the gateway adds
     IP telephony support at extremely low cost.

About Hypercom

Hypercom Corporation is a leading supplier of point-of-sale (POS) payment systems, carrier/ISP/enterprise networking solutions, and client/server software. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Hypercom sells its products in more than 50 countries worldwide. Hypercom's (HYC) common stock is traded on the NYSE. To find out more about Hypercom, access our World Wide Web site at www.hypercom.com.