UTOPIA Places Initial Order of Minerva Networks' IP Television Platform to Deploy "Triple Play" Services Over Largest FTTH Network in the United States

Minerva® Networks today announced that Utopia (Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency), the largest municipal fiber-to-the-premise project in the country, has placed its initial order of its iTVManager service management platform to offer advanced video services to subscribers in fourteen Utah cities. The services will include interactive Television, Video-on-Demand (VOD), and eventually broadcast-quality video telephony and "always-on" video monitoring. Video monitoring will allow elderly and disabled people, who wish to live independently, to be constantly monitored by caregivers.

The new service will be first made available to 50,000 households in the cities of Murray, West Valley City and Midvale in Salt Lake County, and Orem, Payson and Lindon in Utah County. The broadcast Television feeds for the UTOPIA network will be sourced via a fiber connection from the City of Provo's Video Headend, featuring Minerva encoding technology.

"UTOPIA's subscribers will experience advanced services and the finest video quality," said Jean-Georges Fritsch, Minerva's Chief Operating Officer. "The Minerva headend at Provo will provide over 250 local and national channels along with educational and community content from the city of Provo, Brigham Young University, and Utah Valley State College."

The project is expected to take three years to build at an estimated cost of $300 million. The network will utilize a patent-pending Open Service Provider Network(TM) (OSPN) model, developed by DynamicCity, Inc., who assisted in arranging the financing and is managing the construction as well as the operations of the network. The OSPN model keeps network ownership separate from the service providers, enabling several competing service providers to simultaneously offer Triple Play services.

"Minerva iTVManager supports the OSPN model and provides superior performance, scalability and ease of use enabling service providers to equitably compete with their enhanced video services," said Jeff Fishburn, DynamicCity's Chief Technology Officer. "The result is a unique interactive television experience for the end-users."

"People want to watch programming when they want, take advantage of new educational opportunities, share family pictures and videos," said Paul Morris, UTOPIA's Executive Director. "We're delighted to deploy the Minerva iTVManager platform, which can support the scale and breadth of services we envision offering. We appreciate the outstanding level of commitment and support Minerva has given to the project."

About Utopia Inc.

UTOPIA is one of the largest projects in the USA to build an all-fiber network directly to homes and businesses. It is mutually owned by its 14 member cities, which comprise a population of more than 140,000 households and businesses. Phase one of the project will offer services to more than 50,000 premises in six cities in Salt Lake County and Utah County.

About Minerva Networks, Inc.

Minerva Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of carrier-class infrastructure for the delivery of "triple play" services over broadband IP networks. The company's video services management software and video processing platforms are integrated into complete IP Television delivery platforms. Broadband network operators worldwide use Minerva's products and services to deliver next-generation entertainment and communication applications. Minerva Networks is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA and on the Internet at www.minervanetworks.com.

© 2004. Minerva Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. The Minerva iTVManager is a trademark of Minerva Networks, Inc. All other brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For more information, please contact: Mike Galli Director of Marketing Minerva Networks, Inc. (408) 904-1224 mgalli@minervanetworks.com