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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 (2391)	1/20/1999 2:52:00 PM
From: George Kirlin	Respond to of 3178

The latest on who is supplying USAT with their IP equipment... USA Talks Is Using Franklin's Tempest DVG Systems Installed and Operating Throughout California WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 1999-- Franklin Telecom (OTC BB:FTEL) Wednesday announced that its Tempest Data Voice Gateway has been named the backbone for Internet telephony at USA Talks.com (OTC BB:USAT), the first flat-rate long-distance carrier. This relationship has been in place since November, and the two companies have been working together to bring California up by Jan. 31, 1999. The network is now fully operational. The Tempest Systems are able to unite geographically dispersed workgroups by integrating voice and fax over an existing LAN/WAN network. USA Talks also uses the Tempest AMAS system, which allows integrated accounting, tracking and authentication. Franklin's president, Peter Buswell, said: ''We are pleased to have been selected by USAT not only as an equipment supplier but as the primary contractor in the design, deployment and ongoing maintenance of the network. We make a 'way kool' Best of Breed VoIP gateway, but it was the total solution we offer that really separated us from the pack when it came down to making it all happen.'' Allen Portnoy, chairman and chief executive officer of USAT, said: ''Since the introduction of our Flat Rate Long Distance service, our business has really taken off. The Tempest has received consistent praise for its voice quality and ease of installation from our people. ''We at USAT are extremely pleased to have California up and running on schedule. We expect to enjoy a long, prosperous relationship with Franklin as we expand throughout the world.'' The primary business of Franklin Telecom, founded in 1981, is the design and manufacturing of communications devices, high-speed LAN, WAN, Telco and software. The primary business of USAT is the design and marketing of communication services including Flat Rate Long Distance. For additional information about this announcement, visit the Officer's Message page at Franklin's Web Site: www.usat.com www.ftel.com. Certain statements in this news release constitute ''forward- looking statements'' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Franklin Telecom, Westlake Village Helen West, 805/373-8688

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2391)	2/2/1999 8:11:00 PM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3178

So Excels giving up a few........hey! HitCom Announces Expansion of Telephony Switching Network and Integration of IP Telephony February 2, 1999 ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)HitCom Corporation (NASDAQ OTC:HICO), a facilities-based telecommunications company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, today announced that it has expanded its telephony switching network with the purchase of another Excel switch from Excel Switching Corporation (NASDAQ:XLSW). Also, the Company is developing plans for implementation of IP Telephony as an integral element of its network. HitCom has purchased an Excel switch for deployment at a new switching facility in Toronto, Canada. This facility complements HitCom's existing switching facility in Canada and will operate on the same technology platform that drives HitCom's switching facility in St. Louis. "This addition represents another step in the expansion and standardization of HitCom's telephony network and a tremendous advance of HitCom's goal of reducing its existing cost structure while improving the quality of the service it provides," said Rajan Arora, HitCom's president and CEO. "Voice over IP technology has been maturing rapidly over the past few years. While implementing Voice over IP using the Internet as the vehicle for transmitting call results in poor voice quality and intermittent service, private data circuits perform quite well. And, the cost benefit of utilizing Voice over IP to carry strategic portions of our traffic is enormous," said Scott Beil, HitCom's chairman and chief operating officer. Arora added, "With the improvements we have recently made, and those that will be made in the near future, HitCom will be poised to take advantage of many opportunities, from reduction of existing carrier costs to the development of new product lines and revenue streams which will create new customers. We will be able to offer competitive services similar to GTC Telecom (NASDAQ OTC:GTCC). Further, our database of existing customers will provide a ready market for our new planned services."

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2391)	2/2/1999 8:28:00 PM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

Could you hold, my babies crying> Net2Phone Launches First Multimedia Shopping Portal February 2, 1999 HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE) Easysurf.com is the first e-commerce portal to be powered by IP Telephony Enhanced features help web users buy products online IDT's (NASDAQ: IDTC) Net2Phone today launched easysurf.com (www.easysurf.com or www.ezsurf.com), the first web shopping portal powered by Internet telephony. Easysurf.com allows visitors to learn about online merchants' services and communicate with them through direct voice interaction. Easysurf.com gives users added convenience by offering vital information about multiple merchants without the need to visit each vendor's site. For example, easysurf.com lets users know if a site offers secure transactions, whether it is multi-lingual and what sort of return policy it honors. The site is the only shopping portal giving users the ability to use Internet telephony services to make their experience online significantly easier. By incorporating Net2Phone's multimedia services, visitors are able to contact retailers free of charge via voice interaction without having to visit a company's web site. Additionally, with 89% of computer users worrying about transactional security (Dell/Louis Harris & Associates poll), easysurf.com presents unique capabilities for users to speak to a "live" human representative, resolving security fears and adding a human element to an increasingly digitized universe. Easysurf.com provides three communications tools that allow web shoppers to reach a sales or customer service representative. They are: -- Click2Talk, giving customers the ability to talk to an e-tailer's sales or customer service representative over the Internet using a PC and Net2Phone's free Internet telephony software. -- Click2CallMe, enabling the customer to request a call back from the e-tailer at a designated time -- Click2Mail, letting customers send an e-mail message to any e-tailer directly from easysurf.com. For example, if someone is logged on to her computer in Moscow and wants to send tulips to her Aunt Minnie in Paris, she can visit the easysurf.com web site. She checks the list of vendors within the category of "Gift and Flowers," and notes that 1-800-FLOWERS offers global shipping, accepts her credit card, and will even give her frequent flier miles on United Airlines. She clicks on the "Click2Talk" option to be connected to a 1-800-FLOWERS specialist, where she asks about prices on the tulips, confirms that the orange ones that she loves are in season and can be shipped to Aunt Minnie in time for Valentine's Day all without leaving the easysurf.com web site. Through online advertising and direct marketing campaigns to already existing Net2Phone users, easysurf.com will be marketed to millions of web surfers who can take advantage of value-added information needed to buy products online. Additionally, IDT will introduce and promote easysurf.com to its current customers, and will embed an easysurf.com icon into the next release of the Net2Phone client software, which is expected to be bundled worldwide through relationships with IBM (NYSE: IBM), Creative Labs (NASDAQ: CREAF), Packard Bell/NEC Europe and others. "Web surfers who shop online are looking for convenience and low prices. With easysurf.com, we've created a way for customers to rapidly be connected to a retailer's customer service representative without having to jump from page to page looking for a 1-800 number or where to send an email," said David Greenblatt, Chief Operating Officer of Net2Phone. "Businesses can now expand their efforts globally to reach their customers to ensure 100% shopping satisfaction." For more information about easysurf.com, please call 888-872-1230 or send e-mail to sales@click2talk.com. IDT is a leading emerging multinational carrier that combines its position as an international telecommunications operator, its experience as an Internet service provider and its leading position in Internet telephony to provide a broad range of telecommunications services to its wholesale and retail customers worldwide. The company provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance, pre-paid calling cards, Internet access and, through its Net2Phone product offerings, Internet telephony services including Net2Phone Direct, Net2Fax, and Click2Talk. For more information about IDT's Internet telephony services, please visit www.net2phone.com. Except for historical information, all of the expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, the competitive environment for Internet telephony, changes of rates of all related telco rates and services, legislation that may affect the Internet telephony industry, IDT's ability to operate the services described on a large scale commercial level. For additional information regarding these and other risks associated with the company's business refer to the company's reports filed with the SEC. <<Business Wire, 02-01-99, 08:17 Eastern>> CONTACT: IDT Public Relations, Hackensack \| Sarah Hofstetter \| 201-928-2882 \| or \| IDT Investor Relations, Hackensack \| Janine Kutliroff \| 201-928-4391 [Copyright 1999, Business Wire]

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2391)	2/2/1999 8:30:00 PM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Respond to of 3178

Cisco breaks net gridlock - Next-generation ports let IT prioritize application traffic February 2, 1999 InfoWorld: Cisco Systems this spring will give IT managers increased ability to prioritize network traffic by type of application when it augments its venerable Catalyst 5000 and 5500 series LAN switches with significantly more sophisticated port modules. In addition to providing more control over existing applications, Cisco also plans to position these modules as major new tools for enabling voice over IP. A new generation of interfaces will be able to compress voice traffic to reduce bandwidth demands while at the same time give time-sensitive voice traffic priority on the network, according to sources familiar with Cisco's plans. With applications competing for bandwidth on LANs and WANs, users are demanding ways to prioritize some applications over others at the port level. In general, LANs and WANs that can carry IP voice and video as well as data are expected to drive down telecommunications costs and may simplify enterprise networks. By providing more sophisticated port modules, Cisco will embed the quality-of-service functions necessary for multiservice LANs directly into network hardware. Providing the capability at that level should speed performance and prevent bottlenecks, observers said. "If you're going to do it at the port level, you've got the ability to distribute that processing power, and you can increase the effective processing power of the switch," said Michael Speyer, an analyst at the Yankee Group, in Boston. Last week Cisco introduced a new generation of aggregation switches, the Catalyst 6000 line, that also can prioritize voice and other applications on the port. At the same time, the company added voice capabilities for the 5000 and 5500 in the NetFlow feature card and through Internetwork Operating System software. But the coming modules will let many enterprises bring the per-port capability to their existing switches. "At some point, the feature card may be a bottleneck," depending on traffic levels, Speyer said. The interface modules will classify traffic using the IEEE 802.1p and 802.1q LAN standards, sources said. The modules also will be able to pack voice traffic into smaller data streams to make better use of LAN or WAN bandwidth. Voice traffic normally uses a constant 64Kbps of bandwidth, and compression is often used for voice on expensive WAN connections. The 5000 and 5500 series switches are designed for wiring closets that take in connections from desktop switches and end stations. Users experimenting with voice-data convergence said it could have cost and simplicity benefits. "Any way we can reduce costs ... by combining the technologies, we think, is very valuable," said Dennis Walsh, CIO of General Motors, in Detroit. Walsh is testing LAN voice solutions for possible use in densely populated General Motors campuses. He said different solutions for prioritization will work in different devices, depending on performance demands. Cisco Systems Inc., in San Jose, Calif., is at www.cisco.com. Cisco's voice options Prioritization options on Catalyst 5000 and 5500 switches * NetFlow feature card: a daughter card that performs accounting and other functions for multiple ports * Internetwork Operating System 12.0: runs on Cisco Route Switch Module, sets up WAN voice traffic * Voice-over-IP port interface cards: prioritizes and compresses voice traffic on each port [Copyright 1999, InfoWorld]

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2391)	2/2/1999 8:32:00 PM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Respond to of 3178

I-like the way <g> I-Link's Enhanced IP Network Goes Live In Seattle February 2, 1999 DRAPER, UTAH, U.S.A.,: I-Link Inc. [NASDAQ:ILNK] has announced that its enhanced IP (Internet Protocol) services network is now in operation in the greater Seattle- Tacoma metro area. According to the firm, the move means that telephone users in the 206, 253, and 425 area code zones can now make long distance phone calls at just 4.9 cents a minute using the company's V-Link Internet telephony service. V-Link is billed as a lot more than an Internet telephony service, however, as the firm says that businesses can have access to many different features, including unified voice, fax and e-mail messaging, conference calling, and one- number call routing. The extension of the V-Link service means that I-Link is now offering its discount LD Net telephony service in more than 200 areas around the US, including the Greater Los Angeles/Orange County, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix and Salt Lake City metro areas. According to the firm, plans for I-Link to activate its enhanced IP telephony network in the New York City, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill., Orlando, Fla., and Pittsburgh, Pa., markets over the coming weeks. John Edwards, I-Link's chairman, said that the firm plans to offer its services and low long distance rates in most markets across the US. "Although I-Link technology uses Internet Protocol, our calls and services do not run over the Internet, which means our call quality is as high or higher than those operating over traditional telephone networks," he explained. I-Link's Web site is at i-link.net .