Intertex/Ingate and Kapsch CarrierCom form a strategic partnership

Cooperation in the product portfolio, sales and marketing segments will lead to innovative solutions for network operators based on the latest technologies.

For telecoms operators the past few years have been characterized by major structural investment. Increasing competitive pressures and the associated fall in prices have also led to the current unsatisfactory situation. In this connection there has been a continual increase in demand for new services, and these have been made available to end customers with relative ease and minimal delay. Previously, operators simply built networks and made their capacity available. Now a service aspect has been added to the landscape. The value added chain has therefore expanded in the access sector.

To offer appropriate innovative services to telecoms providers, Intertex Data AB, its subsidiary Ingate Systems AB and Kapsch CarrierCom AG have entered a strategic partnership with the specific aim of providing a complete, open and future-proof solution for carriers, particularly in the Voice over IP (VoIP) market. The technology behind this solution is the Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP for short.

Despite having been designed simply as a communication protocol, SIP enables VoIP to be linked with a large number of services that are of great significance for the future telecoms market. The important thing here is not to search for a killer application but to opt for a killer technology that is open and flexible enough to handle a broad portfolio of services and applications.

Intertex/Ingate, with its SIP-based firewall solutions for enterprises and carriers, is contributing the crucial aspect of security to the overall concept. The portfolio of Kapsch CarrierCom ranges from soft switches and application servers to client implementations on various platforms. The turnkey solution also includes partner products such as SIP-compatible terminals and gateways, and the OSS/BSS portfolio of Kapsch CarrierCom.

"Flexible solutions with open interfaces not only pave the way for Voice over IP and IP-based services but also form the basis for next generation communication networks." "What is important for the success of innovative technologies, apart from the added benefits for end customers and operators, is a full end-to-end solution that can be tailored to customer-specific requirements", said Thomas Schöpf, CSO at Kapsch CarrierCom.

"Integration of Intertex und Ingate´s SIP solutions for Network Address Translation and Firewall Transversals with the SIP solutions from Kapsch CarrierCom will create a new and powerful generation of VoIP and IP service solution platforms that will improve user-to-user communication. A complete SIP-based VoIP solution is now available for carriers and internet providers", said Olivier Porte, Export Sales Manager at Intertex.

The first joint activities for implementing international communication projects involved integration tests. Components from Intertex/Ingate and those from Kapsch CarrierCom proved their versatility and in particular their compliance with SIP protocol guidelines. The successful completion of this first phase was also the green light to start work on joint customer projects.

The simple scalability of the overall concept enables projects to be implemented in classic carrier solutions, enterprise hostings and links between companies and private customers.

As far as firewalls are concerned, products from Intertex are used for the end customer and SME sectors, and products from Ingate for the enterprise/carrier sector.

The benefits for end customers from this joint solution from Intertex/Ingate and Kapsch CarrierCom are there for all to see, namely flexible communication with different terminals and media that incorporates existing equipment and therefore leaves all options open without the need for major investment.

For network operators, the advantages are similar. Here too, flexibility and expandability, particularly integration with existing components, are essential so that existing investment is not jeopardized.

Intertex Data AB was founded in 1982 by the present CEO Karl Erik Stahl. The company develops and sells communication and security products. At present, products for broadband access focusing on the SIP standard, and user-to-user IP communication are being introduced. The products include adapted ADSL modems and firewalls prepared for IP telephony, presence, instant messaging, video conference and home appliance control. Intertex has received numerous international awards for creative product design and outstanding business performance. For further information go to www.intertexdata.com.

Ingate Systems AB produces and markets the world�'s first SIP-compatible enterprise firewalls and SIParators, a unit that provides SIP communication based connections via an existing network firewall. Ingate firewalls offer total firewall protection and allow the use of SIP-based communication. For further information go to www.ingate.com.

The companies of the Kapsch Group have built up an enviable reputation as Austrian system innovators and integrators for public and private communication networks and intelligent traffic telematics solutions. Kapsch is one of the world's leading suppliers in many of the major segments in the information and communication industry. Customers of Kapsch CarrierCom include Telekom Austria, Mobilkom Austria, ORF and Matáv. With around 2500 employees, the Kapsch Group has subsidiaries and offices in 12 European countries and is represented by sales partners throughout the world.

Vienna, April 2003

Further information:

Kapsch AG

A-1121 Vienna, Wagenseilgasse

Brigitte Herdlicka

Public Relations

Tel.: +43 (0)50811/2705

E-mail: brigitte.herdlicka@kapsch.net

Kapsch CarrierCom AG

1 A-1102 Vienna, Triesterstrasse 70a

Peter Hofbauer

Product Management