XConnect Receives TMC Labs 2006 Innovation Award for INTERNET TELEPHONY® Magazine

LONDON, UK, June 28, 2006—XConnect, the world’s largest provider of “Plug and Peer” Voice over IP (VoIP) peering federation services and operator of the XConnect Alliance, today announced that Technology Marketing Corporation’s TMC Labs division named the XConnect Alliance as a 2006 Innovation Award winner from INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.

“We are proud to have the XConnect Alliance recognized with the TMC Labs Innovation Award,” said Eli Katz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at XConnect. “As a global pioneer for VoIP peering, XConnect has been instrumental in shaping the new paradigm of a federation based VoIP interconnect landscape. The XConnect Alliance uniquely delivers a comprehensive approach for interconnection and settlement-free exchange of traffic for Voice over IP service providers.”

The fast-growing XConnect Alliance’s members peer on a settlement-free basis and pass on zero-cost or reduced cost calls to their customers. Calls are delivered via end-to-end IP connectivity, eliminating the need to traverse the PSTN which would otherwise impose per-minute costs, reduce call quality (because of limited bandwidth and repeated data-voice-data signal conversion) and preclude sophisticated features such as high quality wideband codecs, video telephony, and integrated instant messaging/presence. “XConnect has clearly demonstrated to the staff of TMC Labs that XConnect’s service is truly innovative in the burgeoning VoIP/IP telephony industry. Never before in this industry has there been a greater need to highlight the most inventive VoIP products and services,” said Rich Tehrani, Group Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

“The TMC Labs Innovation Awards are based upon the uniqueness of the company’s offering and how pioneering the particular product or service is.” according to Tom Keating, CTO and TMC Labs Editorial Director. Keating continued, “The XConnect Alliance deserves this great honor for creating a ground-breaking VoIP service. I look forward to seeing other innovative solutions from XConnect as they continue to contribute to the future of the VoIP/IP telephony marketplace.”