Joint 3G/VoIP Video Calling Solution for Mass Market

US : BroadSoft, the leading provider of VoIP application software, and InnoMedia Incorporated, a leading supplier of Internet and broadband access IP telephony solutions, announced today that the two companies are mainstreaming video communications by extending the same user experience that callers have come to expect from voice to video.

Inset is Michael Tessler, President of Broadsoft quoted below.

The joint BroadSoft(R)/InnoMedia(TM) solution is an integral part of the Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) service that lets users make video calls between 3G mobile and IP phones as seamlessly as voice calls are made between mobile and fixed-line phones.

In the first quarter of 2005, SingTel, Asia's leading communications group, launched commercial 3G/VoIP video calling services. The service is based on the BroadSoft BroadWorks(R) VoIP application platform and the InnoMedia MTA Videophone product.

"Video - fully integrated with and indistinguishable from customary voice calling practices - is a key component in the adoption of 3G services," said Mr. Thomas Yeo, vice president, consumer marketing at SingTel. "BroadSoft and InnoMedia bring ease-of-use to this more personalized form of communication by removing wireline/wireless barriers and incorporating video into established voice calling norms. Also, SingTel's 3loGy platform allows us to offer all the benefits of 3G technology and at the same time bring us beyond 3G mobile, and to leverage on our fixed line business as well. That is why we lead the market in terms of 3G take up because of our more complete offering. As a leading telco, we will continue to look at technologies that offer solutions across platforms for our customers."

With this solution, InnoMedia supplies its MTA 5531 IP Videophones as an endpoint for use with the SingTel service based on the BroadWorks platform. BroadSoft's leading features can be applied equally to all calls - whether voice or video. For example, users could place video calls on hold, transfer video calls within an enterprise, enjoy video-enhanced auto-attendants, leave video-messages, and click-to-dial multi-party video conference calls.

"BroadSoft brings to the table leading call control capabilities that converge 3G and VoIP networks, extending the pool of potential video callers and the familiarity of voice calls to video calls," said Dr. Nan-Sheng Lin, president of InnoMedia. "These advances were crucial for leading carriers such as SingTel to launch new revenue-generating video services that customers find both interesting and easy-to-use."

"InnoMedia and SingTel are both leaders in their respective fields - InnoMedia by providing powerful and stylized video solutions for a mass market, and SingTel by being first to market with new, high-demand communications services," said Michael Tessler, president and CEO of BroadSoft. "By video-enabling BroadSoft features and interoperating with InnoMedia's video solutions, carriers around the globe can now launch compelling and profitable video services that conform to users' calling habits."

InnoMedia Videophones come in several models and offer innovative features such as an integrated Wi-Fi client and PSTN connectivity, a high quality 5" LCD screen for crisp images, and an elegant and functional styled case. InnoMedia's MTA 5531 Videophone was designed with an additional PSTN port on top of the broadband connection, to meet specific requirements of incumbent carriers such as SingTel to harness the incumbent's asset of vast penetration of PSTN in the homes. Existing fixed line subscribers of SingTel can easily upgrade their traditional PSTN line package to a video-capable line while keeping their existing subscription of the fixed voice line. Dialing habits remain unchanged, and subscribers use their original fixed line phone number for both voice and video calls.