IP Networks Deploys Atrica's Carrier Ethernet Systems

Business Wire, Nov 20, 2006

Through Utility-based Partnerships, Carrier Leads Trend of Using Resilient Ethernet and IP Services to Meet the Critical Networking Requirements of Enterprises and Service Providers

SAN FRANCISCO & SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Having deployed Carrier Ethernet solutions for over three years across a broad base of enterprise and service provider customers, IP Networks, Inc. (IPN) has announced that Atrica, Inc. will play a deeper role in its core network. For more than two years, IPN has integrated Atrica's family of Carrier Ethernet Systems into its all-optical network, primarily at enterprise locations. Atrica's Carrier Ethernet Systems will continue to play a key role enhancing IPN's Last Mile and Large Scale Networks, which are built to exceed enterprises' mission-critical network requirements. In their expanding role, Atrica's Carrier Ethernet systems will provide greater functionality to IPN's core Regional Fiber Network, which encompasses metro San Francisco, Silicon Valley and beyond. The integration of Atrica's solutions into IPN's newly installed DWDM backbone nodes not only increases capacity by an order of magnitude, it also increases the flexibility of IPN's expanded service offerings. IPN's customer base crosses over virtually every type of vertical market, from the Fortune 15 to the Federal Government, as well as large/medium enterprises.

Since its founding, IPN's business model and competitive differentiation have evolved around business continuity and disaster recovery for itself and its customers. IPN addresses business continuity and disaster recovery at three levels: Physical Level, Operational Level and Services Level - with Atrica's Carrier Ethernet Systems playing a part in each.

Gary George, president of IP Networks commented, "Atrica's products have met our expectations of high reliability and flexibility. Atrica's highly effective solutions compliment our network, which transports mission-critical applications between enterprise, data center, and carrier POP locations globally. Our targeted customers require our services to be as resilient as SONET services, but at a price/performance value that only Ethernet solutions can bring."

"The decision to expand the role of Atrica's Carrier Ethernet Systems in our network was based on their technical superiority, their unparalleled value proposition and the obvious commitment of Atrica's staff to ensuring our end users' satisfaction," said Shawn Blosser, who oversees IP Networks' network engineering and operations. "Our core networks operate at greater than 99.999% availability and we want to maintain that integrity. With our shared vision for the future direction of the Carrier Ethernet market, Atrica's solutions will allow us to continue transforming how commercial enterprises operate in today's highly competitive domestic and global economies, by providing solutions other carriers cannot profitably match."

With Atrica's solutions, IP Networks cost-effectively delivers unique Service Level Agreement (SLA) flexibility, offering Committed Information Rate (CIR) service for mission-critical applications, Excess Information Rate (EIR) for bursty applications, fully protected or unprotected services and guaranteed SLAs. Applications supported by IPN's advanced infrastructure include broadcast video, storage and back-up, IP services, LAN-to-LAN interconnect from 1 Mbps to 1000 Mbps, Metro Ethernet services from 1 Mbps to 1000 Mbps, VON, and T1 circuit emulation service (CES) services.

IP Networks selected Atrica's systems for their ability to deliver guaranteed SLAs, which are considered crucial requirements by the market's largest and most sophisticated enterprise customers and service providers. IPN was also impressed by the comprehensive functionality and the ease of management that Atrica's integrated service provisioning and management system offers, as well as Atrica's Quality of Service (QoS), sub-50 millisecond resiliency, and Ethernet CES for support of TDM traffic.

"This agreement clearly shows a strong, growing market for high-bandwidth, high-SLA business communications services that are not being served by current IP network suppliers," said Scott Messenger, vice president of marketing for Atrica. "With an impressive, expanding customer base, IP Networks has quickly established a solid reputation for delivering world-class services and support to its customers. We are proud to be their Carrier Ethernet technology vendor of choice."

Under the terms of this agreement, IP Networks has deployed the following components of Atrica's comprehensive Carrier Ethernet product suite: the A-2000 family of Carrier Ethernet Edge Switches, the A-4000 family of Carrier Ethernet Aggregation Switches, the A-8000 family of Carrier Ethernet Core Switches, and the Atrica[R] Service Platform for Ethernet Networks (ASPEN[R]), an integrated service provisioning and management system.

About IP Networks, Inc.

Headquartered in San Francisco, IP Networks, Inc. created strategic relationships with multiple electric/gas utilities and strategic service provider partners to build and operate one of the most advanced telecommunications networks serving enterprises operating in metro San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Optimized for transporting the most demanding applications, IP Networks Ethernet solutions satisfy the mission critical service requirements of the commercial and research communities requiring last mile and complex fiber optic based networks domestically or globally. For more information: visit our web site at www.ipnetworksinc.com or email info@ipnetworksinc.com.