VocalTec and Portal Team to Offer IP Telephony Real-Time Customer Management and Billing System
Business Wire - March 30, 1998 09:05
%VOCALTEC %PORTAL VOCLF %NEW-YORK %CALIFORNIA %COMPUTERS %ELECTRONICS %COMED %TELECOMMUNICATIONS %INTERACTIVE %MULTIMEDIA %INTERNET %TRADESHOW V%BW P%BW
HERZLIYA, Israel/CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 1998--
Portal's Infranet(tm) Software to Support
the VocalTec(R) Ensemble Architecture(tm)
VocalTec Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ: VOCLF), the IP Communications Company, and Portal Software, Inc., the leader in customer management and billing software for providers of Internet services, today announced an agreement to deliver a scalable, real-time customer management and billing software solution.
This will utilize software from Portal and the VocalTec end-to-end IP communications Ensemble Architecture, creating a scalable solution for Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) to register, track, manage and bill subscribers in real time.
Portal will demonstrate an example of this integrated solution at booth No. 32 at the Spring '98 Voice on the Net (VON) conference, March 30 to April 2, 1998, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. VocalTec will demonstrate its Ensemble-based end-to-end IP communications business solutions at booth No. 10.
By interfacing with the VocalTec Ensemble Architecture, Portal's Infranet customer management and billing software will support the roll out of IP telephony services by established and new carriers. These carriers include telcos, Internet service providers (ISPs), independent Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) and exchange carrier service providers that need settlement services to link ITSPs' networks together for broader service.
"The Portal and VocalTec solution addresses carrier and service provider needs for a real-time customer management and billing solution to support the delivery of commercial IP telephony services," said Dr. Elon Ganor, chief executive officer and chairman at VocalTec Communications. "Portal has a proven track record of delivering robust real-time customer management and billing solutions for IP-based services. By working with leading companies in their categories, such as Portal, VocalTec is bringing to market all the components necessary to support the rollout of quality commercial IP communications services."
"VocalTec has outstanding market momentum with IP communications technology such as the VocalTec Ensemble Architecture," said John Little, founder and CEO at Portal Software, Inc. "Unlike batch billing systems, the VocalTec/Portal turnkey solution supports real-time authorization for pre-paid minutes of use and invokes customer thresholds in real time, giving IP communications service providers a real advantage over the competition."
Portal's Infranet software unifies the management of all core Internet telephony business operations including the ability to register, track, manage and bill subscribers. Its real-time architecture and open development environment provide a platform for Internet telephony service creation and management. Infranet's proven support for millions of users and 24 x 7 telecommunications-grade reliability make it the ideal solution for managing Internet telephony services. Infranet's real-time features include: customer registration, caller authentication, credit-limit verification, tracking of prepaid usage and account termination, least-cost routing capabilities, inter-domain reconciliation and settlement capabilities.
"VocalTec and Portal are working together to provide leading whole product solutions to support IP-based telephony services," said Ron Cummins of Dot Com Technologies. "We focus on providing alternative communications services, including operator assisted calls, to developing countries. We believe that the availability of this type of real-time billing solution will expedite the availability of IP telephony services to end users."
The VocalTec Ensemble Architecture represents the first open IP telephony platform in the industry to comply with the most advanced industry standards for centrally managed and intelligent IP telephony services. This standard allows for widescale deployments of centrally managed, reliable, scalable and secure commercial IP telephony network services. With support for third party accounting, billing and security solutions, the VocalTec Ensemble Architecture provides the framework for quality intelligent IP telephony services and centralized management solutions for the routing of traffic between thousands of gateways and servers, and millions of end-user devices, including PC clients, standard telephones and other communications devices.
For the carrier and corporate markets, VocalTec's IP telephony solutions are designed to reduce network management and carrier costs, increase worker productivity with phone-to-phone, PC-to-phone, fax-to-fax, integrated fax and electronic messaging, and web-to-call center applications as well as multi-point collaborative communications tools.
About Portal Software, Inc.
Portal Software, Inc. develops and markets the industry's most scalable and adaptable customer management and billing software for providers of Internet services. Portal's software allows ISPs and other providers of Internet-based services to manage, at a new level, the core operations of their online business by responding to customer needs and market opportunities in real time. Target markets include Internet access businesses; next-generation IP-based services such as Internet telephony and virtual private networks (VPNs); other consumer and business services such as content management, Web hosting, online gaming and entertainment. Portal's customers include leading Internet businesses worldwide such as U S WEST, Grolier Online, France Telecom, NetChannel, OzEmail, VeriSign and ICL GamesZone. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Portal has offices in Chicago, Washington DC, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney and London. Information about Portal and its products can be found at !
portal.com.
About VocalTec Communications Ltd.
VocalTec Communications Ltd. products enable audio, video, data, text and collaborative communications between personal computers and other devices over IP networks. The Company is a leader in developing innovative, open standards products that bridge IP networks and the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) and drive the convergence of computing and telephone technologies.
NOTE: VocalTec(R), Internet Phone(R), and VocalTec Ensemble Architecture(tm) are trademarks or registered trademarks of VocalTec Communications Ltd. Portal is a U.S. registered trademark, and Portal Software, the Portal logo, the Real Time-No Limits tagline and Infranet are trademarks of Portal Software, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Certain statements contained in this release may contain forward-looking information with respect to plans, projections or future performance of VocalTec, or any of its partners, the occurrence of which involves certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, product and market acceptance risks, the impact of competitive pricing, competitive products, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties and other risks detailed in the Company's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: VocalTec Communications Ltd., Northvale
Jo Lee, 201-768-9400
pr@vocaltec.com
or
Portal Software, Inc.
Marsha Dillon, 408-343-4484
mdillon@portal.com
or
LNS Communications
Marty Querzoli/Theresa Edo
617-577-9777
mquerzoli@lnscom.com/tedo@lnscom.com
or
A&R Partners for Portal Software
Kristin Burns, 650-363-0982
kburns@arpartners.com
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