RAD Data Communications and Narad Networks Team to Provide First Cost-Effective Solution Enabling Cable Operators to Offer Leased Line Services

Traditional TDM Voice, Video and Data Transport over Broadband IP Networks Enables New Business Models for Cable

WESTFORD, Mass. USA and Guildford, UK, May 15, 2002 - Narad Networks, Inc., a broadband IP services and software company using switched Gigabit Ethernet over coax, has announced a partnership with RAD Data Communications to offer cable operators a solution for delivering leased line services over their existing cable infrastructure. The joint solution, comprised of RAD's IPmux TM TDMoIP gateways and Narad's high performance True BroadbandTM Gigabit Ethernet solution, provides Time Division Multiplexing over Internet Protocol (TDMoIP) functionality.

Narad has added RAD's IPmux to its family of managed elements in the Narad Services Delivery Platform (NSDP). Cable operators are now able to cost-effectively deploy and manage profitable end-to-end service offerings from a single, integrated platform. This gives operators the ability to gain network transparency through an integrated, managed network architecture.

TDMoIP allows cable operators to offer lower cost E1 leased line services over their coax networks, a market that industry analysts expect will grow dramatically over the next several years. Currently, local leased line transport is only available over traditional telecom networks. The Narad/RAD solution enables cable operators to advance their business models by providing an alternative service offering.

With TDMoIP, cable operators can immediately offer commercial voice, video and data transport services such as local leased line services to interexchange carriers (IXCs), private leased line services to enterprises and backhaul transport services to mobile providers. Addressing the need to transport existing TDM circuits in an emerging packet environment, TDMoIP allows MSOs to transparently extend E1 circuits across Ethernet and IP backbones at a much lower cost than traditional leased line services from carriers. TDMoIP also protects current investments in TDM equipment.

Yankee Group: TDMoIP Enables Cable Operators to Expand Services
"Small to medium-sized businesses have few alternatives today for leased line services. E1s provided by incumbent carriers tend to be more expensive than the alternatives and have long lead times," said Michael Speyer, director of the Yankee Group's Small and Medium Business Technologies service. "With cost effective technology like TDMoIP, cable operators are well-positioned to expand their service offerings to business customers and greatly enhance their business models."

A local (5 km) circuit in most European countries costs around €350-600 per month for a 2 Mbps E1 circuit, and €2,600-4,000 per month for a 34 Mbps E3 circuit. This compares with the typical €10-20 per month for residential television subscribers.

Voice is one of the possible additional services offered by cable operators. Although VoIP continues to evolve as an application for delivering next generation voice services, the associated complexity makes adoption by many customers difficult to justify. In contrast, TDMoIP is a simpler and more valuable solution because it provides revenue-generating leased line services for a much broader range of applications. It also does not require customers to change their existing business processes because it is a true alternative to traditional E1 leased line services.

Supports Legacy TDM Services Over High-Bandwidth Enabled Cable Networks
"For cable operators implementing Narad's solution, the ability to support legacy TDM services over high-bandwidth, IP-enabled cable networks provides them with even greater opportunities to grow their service offerings," said Peter Balchin, Vice President and General Manager of EMEA at Narad Networks. "The addition of the market-leading TDMoIP solution from RAD to our proven True Broadband solution means cable operators can evaluate and plan with confidence their support for leased line services."

The TDMoIP solution takes advantage of Narad's True Broadband solution, which leverages the unused portion of the existing cable network above 860 MHz to deliver symmetrical switched Ethernet with quality of service (QoS). Taking advantage of the existing hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network, Narad's True Broadband solution allows cable operators to deliver premium broadband IP services, like E1 leased lines over IP, virtual private networking (VPN), high-speed Internet access, business-grade telephony and business storage solutions to businesses over a high-bandwidth, well-managed, cost-effective platform. The Narad software provides a service creation, provisioning and management toolset and a distributed network operating system to manage end-to-end broadband IP services.

Protects Investment And Preserves Current Telephony Features
RAD's IPmux line of TDMoIP gateways provide simple, cost-effective and easily scalable solutions for transporting TDM-based E1, E3, analog voice and ISDN BRI services over IP and Ethernet networks. TDMoIP gateways empower IP and Ethernet networks with both leased line and high quality voice capabilites. With the RAD solution, enterprises can smoothly and inexpensively migrate to IP while protecting their investment in PBXs and other TDM equipment, preserving current telephony features, and with minimum disruption of business operations.

"This very simple solution combining Narad's broadband access medium that has extensive QoS management capabilities and our TDMoIP solution affords cable operators the opportunity to offer traditional E1 leased-line services while taking advantage of the cost savings and flexibility inherent in an IP-based transport infrastructure," said Oded Ilan, President of RAD Data Communications, Inc. "By completing interoperability testing with Narad Networks, we are providing a more integrated solution. The complementary nature of our products ensures that customers enjoy the benefits of new service revenues with fast deployment and lower operational costs."

The Narad/RAD TDMoIP solution allows cable operators to extract new value out of legacy access equipment and the ubiquitous HFC plant to deliver revenue-generating, high-margin services. In addition, Narad's True Broadband solution provides cable operators with a lower cost migration path to other packet-based services. Narad and RAD will collaborate on additional joint marketing and sales initiatives for their combined cable TDMoIP offering.

About Narad Networks
Narad Networks (www.naradnetworks.com) provides broadband access and software products that provide significantly increased bandwidth to enable new IP services and create new business models for cable MSOs. Narad's True Broadband™ solution leverages the vast, unused portion of existing cable networks by providing switched Gigabit Ethernet over HFC and a comprehensive software suite for the creation, provisioning and management of end-to-end broadband IP services. Founded in July 2000 and based in Westford, Mass., Narad Networks is a privately-held company with venture funding from Polaris Venture Partners and leading network industry entrepreneurs and executives. Narad's international headquarters is located Guildford, England.

About RAD
Established in 1981, privately owned RAD Data Communications (www.rad.com) has achieved international recognition as a major manufacturer of high quality access equipment for data communications and telecommunications applications. These solutions serve the data and voice access requirements of service providers, incumbent and new carriers, and enterprise networks, by reducing infrastructure investment costs while boosting competitiveness and profitability. The company's installed base exceeds 4,000,000 units and includes more than 150 carriers and operators around the world. These customers are supported by 18 RAD offices and more than 200 distributors in 105 countries.

RAD is a member of the RAD Group of companies, a world leader in networking and internetworking product solutions.