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Net2Phone and Hughes Network Systems
Announce
Jointly Developed VoIP via Satellite Service
Integrated, Bandwidth Efficient Capability Extends Satellite
VoIP Quality
and Performance to Global Markets
Newark, NJ and Germantown, Md., April 28, 2003-Net2Phone
Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP), a leading provider of retail Voice over IP
(VoIP) services, and Hughes Network Systems (HNS), the world's leading
provider of broadband satellite solutions, today announced that
they have jointly developed an integrated capability to deliver
Net2Phones VoIP service over HNS DIRECWAY® broadband
by satellite service. This is the first integrated satellite VoIP
solution with bandwidth prioritization to be offered to enterprises
and consumers globally.
HNS has integrated Net2Phones VoIP telephony interface into
its advanced DW6040 Voice Appliance terminal, which will operate
over the DIRECWAY satellite service worldwide. This will enable
DIRECWAY customers to take advantage of Net2Phones high quality,
competitively priced international long-distance service. HNS will
market the integrated Net2Phone capability through its worldwide
value-added reseller distribution channels.
This jointly developed capability allocates prioritization to voice
packets over Internet data, thereby significantly improving the
quality of service over competitors products and services.
Demand for satellite broadband connectivity is growing worldwide,
and is especially popular in markets such as Africa and Latin America,
where terrestrial and Internet infrastructure is weak or non-existent
and phone calling is cost prohibitive
Our collaboration with Net2Phone extends the reach of affordable
VoIP international calling worldwide, wherever there is satellite
coverage, said Matthew Mohebbi, vice president of international
sales and marketing at HNS. We believe that this joint offering
will provide tremendous value to our customers. The integrated voice
appliance is an inexpensive add-on that will protect the investment
and generate additional revenues for DIRECWAY value-added service
providers.
This innovative project opens up a new channel of opportunities
for both companies. The integration provides HNS with an effective
telephony overlay for its existing DIRECWAY services. It illustrates
HNS commitment to continually enhance its DIRECWAY offerings
and provide additional value to its customers. For Net2Phone, offering
high-quality VoIP over satellite demonstrates market leadership
and initiative while expanding Net2Phones service offerings
via HNS robust sales channels. Furthermore, the global reach
of this cooperation is consistent with Net2Phones strategy
to rapidly expand retail voice services over data networks in emerging
markets worldwide.
Net2Phones core competency has always been to layer
voice over data networks. Satellite, especially in conjunction with
HNS, the leading provider of satellite network services, is the
next frontier in data networks that can be powered with voice, and
we are excited to blaze that trail together, said Yonah Lloyd,
vice president, international market and business development at
Net2Phone. This is the first significant sign of convergence
of VoIP and satellite, demonstrating true cooperation between service
providers and technology enablers. Now both HNS and Net2Phone can
deliver a very dynamic product offering that is complementary to
each of their existing product lines.
About Net2Phone
Founded in 1995, Net2Phone is the leading provider of high quality
retail Voice over IP (VoIP) services, either directly or via a partner.
With millions of users around the world, Net2Phone enables toll-quality
calls between computers, telephones, and broadband devices utilizing
IP networks. Recognized as the first company to bridge the Internet
with the public switched telephone network, Net2Phone has routed
billions of minutes of traffic over its award-winning network. Incorporated
within the company is its Cable Technologies Division, which has
developed a fully outsourced standards-compliant telephony solution
for cable operators. Traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol NTOP,
Net2Phones strategic partners and investors include Liberty
Media Corporation (NYSE: LMC.A; LMC.B) and IDT Corporation (NYSE:
IDT; IDT.B). For more information about Net2Phone's products and
services, please visit www.net2phone.com
About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, Inc. (HNS), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Hughes Electronics
Corporation (HUGHES), is the world's leading provider of broadband
satellite network solutions
for businesses and consumers, with more than 500,000 systems ordered
or shipped to customers in 85 countries. HNS pioneered the development
of high-speed satellite Internet access services, which it markets
globally under the DIRECWAY® brand. In addition, HNS is a leading
manufacturer of DIRECTV® satellite television receivers, having
shipped more than 11 million to date.
Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland,
USA, HNS maintains sales and support offices worldwide. The earnings
of HUGHES, a unit of General Motors Corporation, are used to calculate
the earnings attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock
(NYSE: GMH). To learn more about HNS, please visit www.hns.com.
HUGHES, Hughes Network Systems and DIRECWAY are trademarks of Hughes
Electronics Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
These forward- looking statements involve risks and uncertainties
and actual results could differ materially from those discussed
in the forward-looking statements. For this purpose, any statements
contained in this press release that are not statements of historical
fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Factors which
may affect the Company's results include, but are not limited to,
the Company's ability to expand its customer base, the Company's
ability to develop additional and leverage its existing distribution
channels for its products and solutions, dependence on strategic
and channel partners including their ability to distribute the Company's
products and meet or renew their financial commitments, the Company's
ability to address international markets, the effectiveness of the
Company's sales and marketing activities, the acceptance of the
Company's products in the marketplace, the timing and scope of deployments
of the Company's products by customers, fluctuations in customer
sales cycles, customers' ability to obtain additional funding, technical
difficulties with respect to the Company's products or products
in development, the need for ongoing product development in an environment
of rapid technological change, the emergence of new competitors
in the marketplace, the Company's ability to compete successfully
against established competitors with greater resources, the uncertainty
of future governmental regulation, the Company's ability to manage
growth, obtain patent protection, and obtain additional funds, general
economic conditions and other risks discussed in this Report and
in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. All forward-looking statements and risk factors included
in this document are made as of the date hereof, based on information
available to the Company as of the date thereof, and the Company
assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or
risk factors.
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