TEK DigiTel and Franklin
Telecom Sign $2M Agreement
Companies to Partner in Bringing Plug and
Play Convergence to Small Office Market
GERMANTOWN, MD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 1999-- TEK DigiTel Corporation (OTC BB:TEKI - news) and Franklin Telecom (AMEX:FCM - news) today announced a technology transfer agreement that incorporates both hardware and software into Franklin's converged solutions for small offices and businesses. Franklin Telecom, a leading provider of Internet Telephony products and TEK DigiTel, a SOHO convergence solutions provider, will make it even easier for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) to provide combined voice, video and data services to small businesses. According to the agreement, revenues for TEK DigiTel are forecasted at about $2 million over two years.
``TEK DigiTel has optimized its entire product roadmap around speeding time-to-market and minimizing support requirements. Their approach is completely in synch with our commitment to offer the highest value solutions to small office and small business customers,'' said Peter Buswell, President and Chief Operating Officer of Franklin. ``TEK DigiTel's expertise in optimizing entry level remote VoIP gateways for small offices, combined with Franklin's advanced generation backoffice software for Internet Telephony, will help ISPs and CLECs provide customers with truly integrated multimedia services from the edge of the carrier's network to the desktop.''
TEK DigiTel President Rocco DiCarlo believes the relationship characterizes the movement of the Internet Telephony market. ``The sense of urgency surrounding multiservice IP communications has opened the door for forging strategic relationships such as this agreement between TEK DigiTel and Franklin,'' DiCarlo says. ``As a company founded to speed the benefits of IP convergence in underserved markets, agreements such as this that advance adoption of our technology are key to our growth strategy. We couldn't be happier than to be working with a company as aggressive as Franklin Telecom.''
Investor Summary of:
TEK DigiTel and Franklin Telecom Sign $2M Agreement
Released May 25, 1999
TEK DigiTel Corporation (OTC BB: TEKI) and Franklin Telecom (AMEX: FCM) today announced the licensing agreement for TEK’s V-SERVER iGate product, which is the first in a series of voice/ data convergence products which TEK will release this year. The iGate remains on schedule to begin shipping at the end of this month.
In order to understand the VoIP opportunity which TEK and Frankllin exploit, it helps to understand the status quo of VoIP today: first, the application is live already as an estimated $150 million market with for long-distance calls currently being placed over the Internet. The limitation with the current approach is that even though the call is being placed over the Internet, the dial-up access to the Internet is being granted by the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) through their large, capital-intensive dial-in gateways. The iGate product, as well as the next generation of TEK’s V-SERVER products, counters this limitation by providing Customer Premise Equipment that will enable a customer to access the Internet via a small gateway product that eliminates the need to go through the PSTN. This is ideal for a Small Office Home Office customer who is already a cable or DSL subscriber for Internet connectivity and can use the V-SERVER iGate product to establish VoIP capability while effectively gaining two additional phone lines for VoIP calls. And apart from the advantage to the customer, there is an advantage to the large telephone companies because establishing small gateways through the V-SERVER Customer Premise Equipment eliminates the capital-intensive process of establishing large switches over all the desired coverage areas.
The agreement just signed with Franklin is significant for the following reasons:
This summary has been prepared specifically for TEK’s investor audience and is meant to clarify investor questions. It does not replace the official press release which can be found through the website archives as well as through BusinessWire’s distribution. If you still have questions or would like further information, please contact Flora Wood or Phil Williams at CEF Investor Relations, 416-777-0001 or through info@tekdigitel.com.
About Franklin Telecom
The primary business of Franklin Telecom (AMEX:FCM - news), founded in 1981, is the design and manufacturing of communications devices, high speed LAN, WAN, Telco and Satellite Systems and software. Franklin has an installed base of over 100,000 nodes worldwide. Franklin's Internet subsidiaries, FNet and Internet Passport provide services using FTEL products.
About TEK DigiTel
Based in Germantown, Maryland, TEK DigiTel Corporation is helping service providers bring the benefits of IP voice/data convergence to SOHO and small business environments through highly functional, low cost, network access devices. Founded in 1998, TEK DigiTel is publicly traded (OTC BB:TEKI - news). TEK DigiTel is focused on integrating all communications elements of a small office into one easy-to-use platform and is co-marketing it's Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) solutions with Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and resellers. The company's V-Server iGate product begins shipping this month.
Contact:
| Media Contact: Strategies, Ink Liza Kurtz, 212.685.4283 pr@tekdigitel.com |
Investor Contact: CEF Flora Wood, (888) 393-4979 ir@tekdigitel.com |