Blue Ridge Communications Selects General Bandwidth For Cable Telephony Deployment; Pennsylvania MSO Selects General Bandwidth G6 Universal Media Gateway Platforms to Deliver Digital Phone Services

Business Wire, April 25, 2005

AUSTIN, Texas -- General Bandwidth, a leading Voice over IP equipment manufacturer enabling rapid deployment and new service revenue generation over broadband networks, has been selected by Blue Ridge Communications, a Pencor Company and leading cable service provider in eastern Pennsylvania, to deliver cable telephony services over their hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network.

With more than 178,000 access lines in service, Blue Ridge Communications is establishing itself as a major integrated communications provider in eastern Pennsylvania. Currently serving more than 46,000 high speed data customers over its HFC network, Blue Ridge plans to deploy the General Bandwidth G6(R) Universal Media Gateway Platform to launch digital phone service to customers by mid-summer.

"Blue Ridge has a long tradition of serving our customers with highly reliable telecommunications services by investing in innovative, high quality telecom equipment," said Mark Masenheimer, general manager of Blue Ridge Communications. "General Bandwidth's G6 platform is a very flexible, carrier grade voice service platform that can be deployed to deliver PacketCable(TM) telephony services for our customers."

The G6 Universal Media Gateway Platform is a true carrier class, PacketCable-compliant solution providing full redundancy along with the capability of simultaneously supporting PacketCable Line Control (LCS) and Network-based Call Signaling (NCS) from a single G6 platform. With the ability to scale to more than 64,000 subscribers per chassis, the G6 platform provides the most cost effective solution for cable operators seeking to grow their network on a city-by-city basis.

"General Bandwidth is focused on delivering the highest quality media gateway to leading cable telephony providers like Blue Ridge Communications who are seeking true carrier grade performance and high VoIP quality of service," said Charles Vogt, president and CEO of General Bandwidth. "We are pleased to be a technology partner at Blue Ridge as they begin to rollout their residential telephone service."

About The G6 Universal Media Gateway Platform

The G6 Universal Media Gateway platform is the architectural basis for the multiple media gateway products offered by General Bandwidth. The G6 platform is a true carrier class VoIP services platform with the capability to simultaneously support multiple service architectures including legacy Class 5 switches, SIP-based feature servers, and next generation softswitches. The platform supports a variety of packet and PSTN interfaces, scaling from a few hundred concurrent sessions to over 16,128 in a single chassis. The company markets the following media gateway products globally:

G6 Access MG        Providing Class 5 services over VoIP and AAL1/AAL2
                    broadband networks using existing GR-303, TR-08,
                    V5.2, or T1/E1 CAS interfaces; extending the life
                    of the legacy switching network.

G6 Reverse MG       Proven interoperable with the leading wireline and
                    cable-based softswitches via MGCP or H.248, the G6
                    Reverse MG enables new IP-based features on legacy
                    remote terminals by enabling their call control to
                    be softswitch-based. The product is applicable to
                    most GR-303, TR-08, and V5.x remote terminals.

G6 Trunking MG      Proven interoperable with the leading wireline and
                    cable-based softswitches, the G6 Trunking MG
                    provides circuit-to-packet media conversion using
                    MGCP, H.248, or SIP softswitch call control. The
                    product is one of only a few media gateways
                    awarded PacketCable(TM) Media Gateway
                    qualification for the cable network
                    infrastructure. The product also provides SIP to
                    PRI interworking for hosted IP communications
                    services.

G6 Universal MG     The industry's first universal media gateway
                    serving the ILEC/PTT, CLEC, and MSO networks, the
                    G6 Universal MG, provides simultaneous support for
                    all access, reverse and trunking media gateway
                    applications on a single G6 chassis. The product
                    delivers seamless, risk-free migration to next
                    generation services to address evolving broadband
                    and voice service needs.  The consolidation and
                    management of voice services through a single G6
                    significantly reduces capital and operational
                    expenses.

About Blue Ridge Communications

Blue Ridge Communications is the nation's 23rd largest cable TV provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of Pencor Services, Inc. Pencor is a leader in the development and introduction of media and communications technology throughout Northeast Pennsylvania. Pencor companies provide new media content and advertising services via cable TV, newspapers and the Internet.