XConnect Announces Availability of Local Directory Server™ Telio and VozTelecom

First Alliance Members to Deploy Enables Highly Scalable and Secure ENUM Database Queries, Supporting Telco-Grade Routing, With Unique Data Privacy Features and Minimal Latency

LONDON, UK, June 20, 2006—XConnect, the world’s largest provider of “Plug and Peer” Voice over IP (VoIP) federation-based interconnection services, today announced that it has released a new production version of its XConnect Local Directory Server™ (LDS) to the XConnect Alliance of global VoIP operators. After extensive beta testing, Telio, the largest and fastest growing VoIP operator in Scandinavia, and VozTelecom, both a leader in hosted VoIP applications for service providers in Europe and Latin America and a fast growing ITSP in Spain, have become the first of the Alliance’s members to deploy the production release of the XConnect Local Directory Server. Both Telio and Voz are founding members of the XConnect Alliance that allows VoIP operators to extend on-net calling to a global community of VoIP end users. The Alliance enables service providers to route calls to other Alliance members on a settlement-free basis without traversing the PSTN or incurring per-minute charges. The Local Directory Server is a patent pending software database which provides a local synchronized copy of XConnect's Registry (ENUM database of VoIP telephony numbers) of over 150 VoIP service providers. “With the increase of new operators joining the Alliance combined with the rapid growth of our Alliance members subscriber base, it is becoming more important than ever to have our XConnect Registry available via a high-capacity local and highly optimized server that our operators can manage in their networks,” said Eli Katz, CEO and Founder of XConnect. “This meant the development of a high speed and multi-protocol query server that enables the peering of networks for on net IP calling while ensuring the security and privacy of our member’s networks and customer information.”

The Local Directory Server, was developed in association with Kayote Networks Inc, technology partner of XConnect, specifically to meet the requirements of XConnect federated VoIP peering, by incorporating advanced encryption and security features and thus augment conventional ENUM / Directory servers. The XConnect Local Directory Server can perform thousands of queries per second, with less than 2 millisecond query latency, while continuing to guarantee the confidentiality of each operator’s own ENUM data and providing essential VoIP security features such as Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) protection. By supporting a variety of query methodologies, including SIP Redirect and ENUM / DNS Query methods, the XConnect Local Directory Server can be easily integrated into most operators’ environments.
“Our membership in the XConnect Alliance helps Telio to achieve its vision of providing a total multi-modal communications experience to our customers,” said Alan Duric, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Telio. “Peering enables our customers to increasingly enjoy features such as wide bandwidth codecs and video calling not only within the Telio subscriber network, but in their calls to people using other VoIP telephony services in other countries. The XConnect Local Directory Server enhances peering with robust query performance, while maintaining security via encryption of all local ENUM data and utilization of sophisticated SPIT prevention heuristics.” “We’re impressed with the performance of the XConnect LDS and are comfortable that the embedded security features prevent other operators from unauthorized access to our sensitive customer data and protect our subscribers from the growing risks of SPIT and other potential abuses,” said Xavier Casajoana, Chief Executive Officer of VozTelecom.

XConnect was founded in 2004 by Eli Katz, also co-founder and chairman of the UK’s Internet Telephony Service Providers’ Association.
For more information on XConnect, please visit www.xconnect.net.