mediaWays GmbH Selects Digi VoIP Product for Large IP
Networks; New Sales Agreement Worth More Than $3
Million
August 28, 1998
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge
Corporation -- Digi International Inc. (Nasdaq: DGII), the
leading provider of server-based communication
solutions, today announced that mediaWays GmbH, a
leading European systems integrator, will deploy ITK
NetBlazer 8500 gateways to provide voice-over-Internet
protocol (VoIP) capabilities to its customers. The
agreement is worth approximately $3 million.
Under the agreement, mediaWays will purchase the
gateway products, which are designed and
manufactured by Digi's newly acquired ITK subsidiary in
Dortmund, Germany. mediaWays, headquartered in
Stuttgart, Germany, is a systems integrator for intelligent
network solutions and manages one of the largest IP
networks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Its
customers include America Online, CityWeb and
BauNetz.
"Our customers expect high quality, and we were
impressed by the superb voice quality of the NetBlazer
systems, which equals the quality of today's long
distance telephone communication," said Bernhard
Ribbock, managing director, mediaWays GmbH. "This
excellent quality feature convinced us to select the
NetBlazer 8500 as our VoIP solution."
Digi's ITK NetBlazer 8500 gateway converts voice
signals received from the conventional telephone
network into IP data packets for transmission over the
Internet or other IP networks. Using Internet telephony,
it is possible to cut communication costs by up to 40
percent. According to a study conducted by analysts
from International Data Corporation (IDC), the share of
telephone calls transferred via packet-oriented networks
will reach 34 percent by the year 2004. The gateway
industry alone is estimated to grow from a $125 million
market in 1998 to more than $2.5 billion in 2001.
"This agreement with mediaWays demonstrates Digi's
ability to offer ISPs and enterprise network managers an
Internet telephony gateway solution today, " said Jerry
A. Dusa, president and chief executive officer, Digi
International. "As Internet telephony continues its
phenomenal growth, Digi is well- positioned to offer
open, reliable and affordable solutions for those
interested in taking advantage of the sizeable cost
savings provided by voice traffic on the Internet."
Preceding the sales agreement, mediaWays conducted
extensive field trials of the ITK NetBlazer 8500. These
field trials tested various capabilities of the gateway
product, including phone-to-phone connections and
computer-to- computer multimedia communications, in a
real-world network scenario. Digi's telephony gateway
formed the central part of the voice service by
connecting the IP network from mediaWays with the
public switched telephone network (PSTN/ISDN).
The ITK NetBlazer 8500 is a flexible, complete solution
with a port density of 2 to 120 data and voice ports per
unit. The gateway also can be cascaded up to 1,000
ports in a system, providing scalability as more ports are
needed. The product uses the protocol H.323, which is
recommended by the International Telecommunications
Union (ITU) for multimedia communications via TCP/IP.
Furthermore, the NetBlazer 8500 matches the voice
quality of today's telephone communications.
About mediaWays
mediaWays was founded in 1996 as a subsidiary of
media corporation Bertelsmann and debis System
Integration. The high performing mediaWays network
incorporates full redundancy in its design and is
managed from a Network Control Center. Additional
services include Internet, intranet, dial- up solutions,
IP-based corporate networks, data security and
server-hosting.
About Digi International
Digi International, based in Minneapolis, is a leading ISO
9001-provider of data communications hardware and
software that delivers seamless connectivity solutions
for open systems, server-based remote access, Internet
telephony and LAN markets. The company markets its
products through an international network of
distributors and resellers, system integrators and original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For complete
information, see Digi's Web site at dgii.com
All brand names and product names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
SOURCE Digi International, Inc.
/CONTACT: Rob Clark of Digi International,
612-912-3093, rob_clark@dgii.com or Aaron Pearson of
Shandwick Public Relations, 612-841-6217,
apearson@shandwick.com, for Digi International/ /Web
site: dgii.com (DGII) |
