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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1554)	10/16/1998 7:50:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3178

IP Telephony Needs Convenience To Take Off, Panelists Say October 16, 1998 TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, Newsbytes via NewsEdge Corporation : Ron Close believes Internet Protocol (IP) telephony has an inherent cost advantage over the circuit-switched public telephone network. So why is Netcom Canada Inc., the Internet service provider of which Close is president, reselling the service of a conventional phone company rather than offering IP- based service like its US parent? In a word, convenience. While it costs less to carry phone conversations as packets of data than to dedicate a certain amount of bandwidth to each conversation from the time the phone is picked up until it is hung up, at the moment, the service is less convenient for customers, Close said in a panel discussion at The Canadian Institute's IP Telephony and Voice/Data Convergence conference Wednesday. A principal reason is that an IP-telephony service still requires customers to dial 17 digits to make a long-distance call. Assuming the provider has a gateway that is a local call for the customer, he or she dials seven digits to reach the gateway via the local phone network. The IP network then asks for the 10- digit long-distance number. Of course if the call is overseas, even more digits may be involved. IP telephony is cheaper, Close said, but not sufficiently cheaper that many customers will bother with the inconvenience. This is why, while Netcom in the US offers IP telephony services to its Internet- access customers, Netcom Canada has chosen to offer its customers domestic long-distance service at 10 cents a minute (any time of day, which Close said is hard to find especially for small- business customers) by reselling conventional phone service. According to Curt Ahart, vice-president of sales at Lucent Network Systems of Murray Hill, N.J., it is also why the service providers making money on IP telephony today are those that are experts in selling cheap long-distance minutes. "Where we're seeing the success right now is in calling card companies -- the prepaid calling card companies -- and also we're seeing the success in people who are doing call-back services," Ahart said. "There are some people that are looking for inexpensive minutes. Those companies that specialize in marketing to those people are successful in IP telephony today. " Close said IP telephony has a noticeable cost advantage in North American long- distance service, and a large one for overseas calling -- the actual cost of providing a one-minute long-distance connection from Canada to Japan is about 28 Canadian cents using the circuit- switched network and six or seven cents over IP, he said -- but "it's not going to be a big winner as long as there's 17- digit dialing." Ahart agreed, saying IP telephony will take off when customers cannot tell the difference between a circuit-switched and an IP service. That day will come in time. The general sense of the conference, held Wednesday and today in Toronto, is that IP telephony will grow strongly in the next few years. In the opening panel discussion Steve Guiton, vice-president of telecommunications and multimedia at the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), cited International Data Corp.'s projection that it will account for about 11 percent of all long-distance minutes in 2002, and Jupiter Communications' forecast that IP telephony will exceed three percent of toll revenues by that same year. Reported By Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1554)	10/16/1998 8:08:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

WorldPort Communications Signs Global Voice Services Agreement With AlphaNet Telecom Inc. October 16, 1998 ATLANTA, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation -- WorldPort Communications, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WRDP) announced today that it has signed a reciprocal voice agreement with AlphaNet Telecom, Inc. (Toronto: FAX), a leading commercial carrier of voice-over-frame relay services. WorldPort will provide AlphaNet with national and international voice termination and other telecommunications services in markets served by WorldPort's global network. Dan Wickersham, WorldPort's President and Chief Operating Officer, stated, "We believe WorldPort's global on-net termination capabilities will allow AlphaNet to benefit from low cost termination and higher quality of service. This initial agreement with AlphaNet is an indication of early success as we implement our Next Generation network for emerging carriers of voice, data and Internet traffic." "We look forward to building our relationship with WorldPort," said Claude Samson, Chief Operating Officer of AlphaNet. He added, "This agreement will provide AlphaNet with further penetration into world markets and affords us exciting opportunities to grow our customer base and international telecommunications traffic, further fueling our global carriers' carrier operation." AlphaNet Telecom Inc. is a communications provider specializing in the development of digital technologies and services for the telecommunications and hospitality industries. Its telecommunications business unit, which provides low cost, high quality international long distance services for the wholesale market, utilizes innovative proprietary technology to convert traditional voice signals into data packets for transmission over a data network. AlphaNet Telecom's Hospitality business unit provides communications and business services to the hospitality industry. AlphaNet Telecom is headquartered in Toronto and maintains offices in New York, Washington, and London England. Additional information is available at www.alphanet.net. WorldPort Communications, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, GA (USA) is The Next Generation Carrier's Carrier providing international long distance services to The Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and The Middle East. The Company is deploying a seamless global network to provide least-cost interconnectivity and high capacity bandwidth products for voice, data, video and Internet traffic to long distance carriers, multi-national corporate customers, distributors and Internet service providers. WorldPort is focused on providing customers a true end-to-end solution by routing traffic through a seamless system of undersea fiber-optic network cables, advanced circuit and packet switches and high efficiency gateways in strategic markets worldwide. WorldPort is expanding its global network reach through internal business development, acquisitions and international strategic alliances. This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward looking statements. Factors which would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to factors detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. SOURCE WorldPort Communications, Inc. /CONTACT: Phillip Magiera, Chief Financial Officer of WorldPort Communications, Inc., 770-792-8735; Retail: Jim Estrada or Joe Dorame, Analysts, Institutional: Kevin Mahoney or Joe Diaz, Media: Jeffrey Stanlis, all of RCG Capital Markets Group, Inc., 602-675-0400; or Helen Verity, Investor Relations of AlphaNet Telecom, Inc., 416-413-4407/ /Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 128371/ /Web site: rcgonline.com /Web site: alphanet.net /Web site: wrdp.com (WRDP FAX.)

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1554)	10/16/1998 8:19:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3178

Stephen... you'll not get an argument from me on this, there's no time for taking a breather here. No dull moments. This month's Business Communications Review magazine has an exhaustive and rather excellently done review of the VoIP/VON space done in an excellent way in a separate monthly supplement to the magazine, which is now getting to be almost as comprehensive as the flagship publication itself. It's titled "Voice 2000," (again). Their treatment of the gateway and PBX/Call Center integration market, as well as Internet fax and unified messaging bears some attention by anyone looking for an up-to-date roundup, or as reasonable a roundup attempt as can be expected, given time to press editorial dynamics and lags, and the perishable nature of news in this sector being what it is today. The half dozen or so articles drill down into the market in about four or five different ways in some very lengthy detail, comparing the attributes and features of the top two dozen or so vendors' products and architectures, again, with an uncanny level of detail. I've checked out their web site at bcr.com and it doesn't appear to be there. You may want to go there and inquire about how to get your hands on a copy or subscribe to the publication. I don't ordinarily endorse or suggest anyone subscribe to a particular publication in this manner, but BCR has consistently proven (to me, at least), time and again, to be a cut above the norm in its coverage of relevant topics to business communications, as their name implies. Enjoy, and Best Regards, Frank Coluccio

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1554)	10/20/1998 10:07:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

AudioCodes to Supply Ascend With Voice over Packet Processors for SA ATM Access Products October 20, 1998 SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation -- AudioCodes today announced that it is providing Ascend Communications Inc., (Nasdaq: ASND) Voice over Packet components for its SA family of Broadband Access products. Under the terms of the agreement AudioCodes will supply Ascend its Voice over Packet (VoP) processor chips, the AC4804A-C Quad Channel devices, and Voice Framer(TM) packetization software. "We are pleased with the cooperation between the Ascend and AudioCodes engineering groups in integrating AudioCode Ascend's MultiVoice for ATM products. These solutions enabled Ascend to cut time-to-market in adding voice compression," said Max Arbo, director of product marketing for broadband access at Ascend. According to Arbo, the recently announced SA 50 provides a low-cost, entry-level platform for multiservice access into an ATM WAN network. The SA 50 dramatically reduces equipment, operations and connection costs, and simplifies network management, while improving application performance. With AudioCode include advanced voice compression service capabilities. "AudioCodes is pleased to be a supplier to Ascend," said Bruce Gellman, vice president of sales and marketing at AudioCode validates AudioCode attracts companies like Ascend who demand quick time-to-market and proven technology in order to meet the needs of its customers." AudioCode rate voice compression, G3 fax relay, silence suppression, echo cancellation and all voiceband processing functions necessary for implementing Voice over Packet products. The chip supports four independent full duplex voice/fax channels with user-selectable G.729A, G.723.1, G.727/G.726, and G.711 voice codecs along with NetCoder(TM), AudioCode specifically designed to provide high speech quality in a harsh, high packet loss network environment. NetCoder(TM) allows for a variable bit rate, 4.8-9.6 Kbps, featuring near PCM voice quality at 9.6 Kbps. AudioCode leading VoIP manufacturers with OEM solutions including Clarent, VocalTec, NetPhone, Level One and Selsius Systems. About AudioCode AudioCode modules and voice compression chips. The company was established in 1993 and has its headquarters and R&D design center in Or Yehuda, Israel. Sales and marketing for North American operations are in San Jose, California. AudioCode AudioCode the emerging market for IP packet telephony. AudioCode includes leading telecom and datacom manufacturers developing CPE pro IP telephony, voice FRAD's and ATM multiplexers integrating LBR voice. AudioCode Fax: 408-577-0492, www.audiocodes.com VoiceFramer(TM) is a trademark of AudioCode the property of their respective owners.

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1554)	10/22/1998 6:56:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3178

Cisco Ventures In Voice October 22, 1998 Inter@ctive Week via NewsEdge Corporation : With more telephony-related acquisitions likely in store, Cisco Systems Inc. is pressing further beyond its traditional data networking realm through its purchase last week of Selsius Systems Inc., a maker of private branch exchange phone systems that work over Internet Protocol networks. Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said he expects the company to make about a dozen acquisitions per year; the Selsius deal, valued at $145 million in cash and stock, is Cisco's eighth purchase to date for the year. Moving forward, Cisco (www.cisco.com) is in a position to acquire additional voice communications companies, said Virginia Brooks, an analyst at the Aberdeen Group Inc. research company in Boston. Cisco said the acquisition of Selsius (www.selsius.com) will let it develop more intelligent Internet Protocol phone handsets and build call processing technology. Telephony is a new front that clearly is unfamiliar to Cisco, which is known for its data expertise. "That's why this is an important and bold move for us," said Peter Alexander, vice president of enterprise networking at Cisco. In July, Cisco acquired programmable switch vendor Summa Four Inc., another indication of Cisco's emphasis on integrated voice and data networks. Also last week, Cisco and AT&T Corp. announced that Cisco's resellers will offer their business customers AT&T Internet services. <<Inter@ctive Week -- 10-19-98>> [Copyright