BROADSOFT AND INTERNET2 LAUNCH DISASTER RECOVERY FOR UNIVERSITIES' VOICE

NETWORKS

 

Business Continuity Ensured Through SIP-Based VoIP Application

 

Hollywood, FL, July 28, 2003 - BroadSoft(R) Inc., the leading provider of

hosted communications platforms, today announced the launch of a disaster

recovery initiative within the Internet2(R) Voice over IP (VoIP) Working

Group. This cooperative initiative is being led by BroadSoft, Georgetown

University, Internet2, and Paetec with participating member institutions

including Catholic University, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and

Texas A&M.  The objective of this initiative is to ensure business

continuity and survivability using IP networks in an event that the

circuit-switched public network goes down. Using Internet2 as a backup for

a traditional PBX and switched network architecture offers an IP-based

disaster recovery solution at a greatly reduced cost.

 

Universities and government agencies require uninterrupted communications

to maintain lifeline services under adverse conditions. The purpose of the

Internet2 VoIP disaster recovery project is to ensure business continuity

and survivability via IP networks, such as the public Internet or

Internet2's Abilene network, when the public switched telephone network

(PSTN) goes down. Internet2's Abilene network provides a resilient and

distributed IP-based disaster recovery alternative to the PSTN's

traditional PBX and switched network architecture, which is more

susceptible to outages.

 

"BroadSoft's innovative VoIP-based disaster recovery application includes

an inherent self-healing nature that allows calls to be automatically

re-routed to other PSTN and call-routing resources," said Christopher

Peabody, project leader for the working group and IT Director for

Georgetown University. "As a result, administrators can access the disaster

recovery lines in response to an emergency situation, whether it's a

network element failure, sustained usage spike, natural calamity or

malicious activity."

 

According to Walt Magnussen, Co-Chair of the VoIP Working Group and

Director of Technology at Texas A&M University, "The VoIP Disaster Recovery

project is effective because of the close working relationship between the

BroadSoft team and the participating universities, which have a shared goal

of delivering an essential survivability application. We're looking forward

to expanding the scope of the project to the rest of the Internet2

membership, especially since we're using a standards SIP-based approach."

 

The circuit-switched network, though built with highly reliable individual

components, is nevertheless vulnerable to geographic disruptions, whether

caused by a flash flood or terrorist activities. However, this joint

initiative results in nationwide disaster recovery for any university that

is part of Internet2. With the first BroadWorks platform deployed at the

Internet2 point of presence at the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads

(www.maxgigapop.net) on the east coast, and a second location to be

rolled-out shortly, the platform is architected for robust geographic

redundancy.

 

"Internet2's goal is to build partnerships between industry, government and

academia to develop and deploy advanced Internet applications," explained

Ben Teitelbaum, Program Manager for Internet2's voice and integrated

communications initiatives. "We are delighted to have BroadSoft generously

supporting and very actively engaged in this trial. The BroadWorks platform

provides an excellent set of call control features and a high degree of

voice survivability, while simultaneously serving the needs of multiple

institutions."

 

"We're very pleased to be part of the Internet2 VoIP effort, and we've

learned a lot from the experts in the working group on the disaster

recovery and business continuity project," said Scott Hoffpauir, Chief

Technology Officer at BroadSoft.  "This application demonstrates how IP

voice can provide extra value for large enterprises, such as universities,

through disaster recovery as well as Centrex or PBX replacement and unified

communications services."

 

BroadSoft's hosted communications platform, BroadWorks, provides a

comprehensive range of applications including Hosted PBX, IP Centrex, and

Voice VPN. BroadWorks is uniquely capable of providing these applications

with the reliability, redundancy, scalability, and regulatory capabilities

required to deliver carrier-class service. BroadWorks enables service

providers to increase top-line revenues by offering enhanced services to

enterprise customers. BroadWorks also reduces operational expenditures by

empowering enterprises to manage their own moves, adds and changes via the

patented CommPilot web portal. The open, standards-based environment of

BroadWorks provides maximum flexibility for service providers to customize

their offering.

 

About BroadSoft

BroadSoft is the leading provider of hosted communications platforms,

holding the largest market share in the Hosted PBX and IP Centrex space

with the most announced customers.  Recognized worldwide, BroadSoft has

recently expanded its global customer base to include Telstra, the

incumbent carrier in Australia. BroadSoft also closed its third round of

$32.5 million in funding in September 2002, raising a total of $60 million

to date from leading venture capitalists and was recently named to

Boardwatch's list of The Top 10 Private Companies. The company's flagship

product, BroadWorks, provides a comprehensive range of applications

including Hosted PBX, IP Centrex, and Voice VPN. Leading telecommunications

industry publications, such as Communications Solutions, Internet Telephony

and Network Magazine, have recognized BroadWorks as "Product of the

Year."  BroadSoft is located near Washington, D.C., in Gaithersburg,

Maryland, and maintains a research and development facility in Montreal,

Canada.  Additional information can be found at www.broadsoft.com.

 

About Internet2(R)

Led by over 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and government,

Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network applications and

technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation

of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among

academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in

its infancy. For more information about Internet2, see:

http://www.internet2.edu/.

 

                                          # # #

 

BroadSoft and BroadWorks are registered trademarks and CommPilot is a

trademark of BroadSoft, Inc. All other names are trademarks of their

respective companies.

 

Contacts:

Matt Sullivan

Fitzgerald Communications

202-912-4414

msullivan@fitzgerald.com

 

Michelle Pollak

Internet2

202-331-5345

mpollak@internet2.edu

 

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