EANTC, Ancotel & Light Reading Announce World's Most Advanced Carrier Ethernet Interconnect Test & Demonstration Program For Service Providers

BERLIN, December 10 - EANTC AG (European Advanced Networking Test Center), the leading
independent test lab - along with ancotel, Europe's largest carrier
interconnect company, and Light Reading, the leading media company in the
worldwide communications industry today - announced the launch of a new
extensive test program for service providers to validate and showcase
end-to-end Carrier Ethernet services across multiple carriers.

The testing effort consists of a pilot testing program using External
Network-Network Interfaces (ENNI) as specified by the Metro Ethernet Forum
(MEF), a report on the program to be published on Light Reading, and a
year-long demonstration program involving Global Carrier Interconnect
demonstrations at Ethernet Expo London and Ethernet Expo New York.

The pilot testing program is scheduled to be organized in January.
Service providers looking to evaluate their Carrier Ethernet services
interconnections in a public, independent, multi-party effort can register
with EANTC for the pilot test campaign.

The key to unlocking the explosive growth expected for Carrier Ethernet
services in the next 18 months will be for enterprises to be able to obtain
secure, robust, and manageable services quickly from multiple carriers around
the world. Service providers need to demonstrate to their customers and
prospects that they can provide these interconnected services, and Ethernet
access and core equipment vendors need to show carriers they can support this
requirement. Using the MEF standards that are designed to provide a common
interconnect standard as a benchmark, EANTC and ancotel will focus on
validating advanced Carrier Ethernet interconnects by examining
functionality, resilience, and service-level management.

The campaign will kick off with a pilot evaluation in January. EANTC,
along with ancotel and participating service providers, will develop a
comprehensive plan for the tests and demonstrations based upon experience
from more than ten Carrier Ethernet interoperability events and active
participation in the MEF standardization of ENNI Abstract Test Suites since
2006.

Results of the pilot test campaign will be publicly demonstrated live at
MPLS and Ethernet World Congress / Ethernet Wholesale Conference 2010 in
Paris, February 9-12, 2010. Detailed information on the test campaign will be
made available in an independent test report published by Light Reading. As
with previous white papers that have come to be considered pioneering
documents in the telecommunications industry, these publications will provide
much-needed assessments of the state of service provider interconnects today.

"As a next-generation operator, we are very proud to participate in the
Advanced Global Interconnection Test Program," said Frederic Dhieux, CTO of
BSO Network Solutions. "Thanks to realistic end-to-end network scenarios, the
Global Interconnect Test Program will help provide an even higher level of
interoperability in an advanced and complex technology area, increase the
level of innovation, and essentially move the technology ahead."

"P&TLuxembourg is proud to take part in this program because it is a real
opportunity to validate, in an international Ethernet network test, that the
Ethernet services can be transported through the ancotel interconnection
facility to different service providers without any traffic performance
degradation and to provide the right service level agreement to the
customers," said Marc Panneel, International Connectivity Manager of
P&TLuxembourg.

"This project will give providers more flexibility in global operation of
Ethernet services and as a result we expand on service quality improvements
for the customers," said Anna Dudko, CEO of Ucomline CJSC - member of Vega
Telecom Group.

With the findings of the pilot test, EANTC plans to create a Global
Interconnect Demonstration at Ethernet Expo London, April 12 and 13 in
London, and Ethernet Expo NY, Nov. 2 and 3 in New York City. Service
providers should contact EANTC to participate.

Carsten Rossenhovel, Managing Director at EANTC, comments: "Our primary
goal is to support the industry in driving the establishment of new standards
that are vital to providing real technical value to the industry. We expect
that by the end of 2010, vendors and providers will have solid and dependable
answers to major technical questions involving Carrier Ethernet global
coverage and service quality."

"Supporting the service provider community is the aim of our business,"
said Michael Boehlert, Director of Technology & Consulting for ancotel. "With
the ongoing ENNI specification work in the Metro Ethernet Forum this program
is a perfect test bed to demonstrate the current state of Carrier Ethernet
Interconnections and to show how far the progress in those specifications
have already been put into practice."

"Light Reading and Ethernet Expo are proud to partner with EANTC and
ancotel in order to help drive the Carrier Ethernet industry forward," said
Joe Braue, SVP and Group Director.

Further information describing the testing procedures and the results in
detail will be available on EANTC's Website at www.eantc.com.

About EANTC

The European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) offers
vendor-neutral consultancy and test facilities for network equipment
manufacturers, service providers, and enterprise customers. Primary business
areas include interoperability, conformance, and performance testing for
Carrier Ethernet, IP/MPLS, and Triple Play technologies and applications. For
more information and service provider program registration contact Carsten
Rossenhoevel, Managing Director, at +49-30-3180595-0 or via email at
cross@eantc.com. www.eantc.com

About ancotel

ancotel GmbH, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Frankfurt am Main,
operates the largest and most significant telecommunications and data hub in
continental Europe with more than 360 service providers co-located and
interconnected in its neutral carrier hotel. As an independent company,
ancotel is a leading provider of managed services in the area of virtualized
carrier transport and interconnection infrastructure for legacy and NGN
networks, including TDM, VoIP, IP/MPLS and Carrier Ethernet. For more
information contact Michael Boehlert, Director Technology & Consulting, at
+49-69-750013-203 or via email at mboehlert@ancotel.de.
www.ancotel.com

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading
online media, research, and focused event company serving the US$3 trillion
worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for
technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the
media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's
research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most
comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis
in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20
targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and
Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as
focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives.
Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and
operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About BSO Network Solutions

Founded in 2004, BSO Network Solutions (a Carinae Group company) is the
leading next-generation operator providing network services, hosting, and
integration. With its rapid growth, BSO Network Solutions is already present
in more than 12 countries and has offices in Paris, London, and Hong Kong.
BSO Network Solutions administers and operates its own Nx10Gbit/s network
which has been crafted to be compatible with future 100Gbit/s interfaces.
Thanks to a range of very high added value services and to comprehensive
facilities management and validation offerings, BSO Network Solutions
provides its customers with guidance and assistance from the most upstream
phases of their projects, in terms of advice and expertise, to the most
downstream, including the daily administration, upgrading, and adaptation of
their infrastructure. All its services are covered by extremely robust
service level agreements (SLA) tailor-made to match each problem addressed.
www.bsonetwork.com

About P&TLuxembourg

P&TLuxembourg is the No. 1 telecom operator in Luxembourg, with a
turnover of 349 million Euros in 2008. As a comprehensive operator and owner
of its fixed and mobile infrastructure, P&TLuxembourg builds and operates
with TERALINK, one of the most innovative European IP networks offering
customers data and telecommunications solutions and services by providing
connections to Europe's foremost telecommunication and carrier hotels.
www.teralink.biz / www.pt.lu

About CJSC Ucomline - member of VEGA TELECOM Group

VEGA TELECOM is the largest alternative fixed operator in Ukraine,
providing a full scale of telecom services in fixed retail and wholesale
markets, with about 1 million subscribers in both retail telephony and data
service lines. UCOMLINE is a wholesale division of VEGA TELECOM Group. VEGA
TELECOM owns and operates a nationwide fiber-optic network including a DWDM
backbone, robust metro networks, and highly developed and modern MPLS
network. www.vegatele.com

Company or product names mentioned in this release are trademarks of
their respective companies.

Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director, EANTC, +49-30-3180595-0, cross at eantc.com; Michael Boehlert, Director Technology & Consulting, ancotel, +49-69-750013-203, mboehlert at ancotel.de