FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Natural Convergence and Nuera Deliver Advanced VoIP Services on Current Broadband Infrastructure

Partnership enables carriers to deliver optimized voice services on existing broadband networks, seamlessly expanding service offerings

Ottawa, Canada, June 16, 2003 – Natural Convergence, a pioneer of broadband communications software for telecom carriers, and Nuera Communications, Inc., a leading provider of Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure solutions for cable television, broadband, and telecommunications Service Providers, today announced a partnership that will enable carriers to deliver advanced VoIP services on the current broadband network. The joint sales and marketing agreement combines the Nuera VoIP gateway and softswitch offerings with silhouette, Natural Convergence’s IP-based voice service for small business.

"Service Providers need to grow their businesses by cost-effectively increasing their service offerings," said David Cork, CEO of Natural Convergence. "With Nuera's award-winning gateway, we can help them expand their service areas with optimized voice offerings - using their existing circuit-switched core network and deploying robust IP voice services at the edge."

The ORCA® GX-Series gateways, installed by Service Providers around the world, dramatically lower the costs of deploying and operating carrier-class telephony services while enabling new revenue generating services. Nuera's ORCA SSC Softswitch is a carrier-class media gateway controller that provides the core switching and SS7 signaling features required to build reliable and scalable VoIP networks.

“Voice is the catalyst that’s driving the growth of broadband services,” said Craig Lee, Vice President of Marketing, Nuera. “Together with Natural Convergence’s suite of IP voice services, we help our customers deliver the promise of the converged network - less complexity, more control, great features, and ease of upgrades. This kind of revenue-increasing incentive means we’re adding value for our customers.”

Natural Convergence’s silhouette.SME provides all the essential features of a modern phone system, for small and medium businesses, delivered over a carrier’s broadband data network. The customer simply signs up for the service at a flat-rate per-user per-month. There is no expensive capital equipment to purchase – no system hardware to become obsolete or outgrow. The service can be personalized and administered directly by the business users or a delegate.

About Natural Convergence
Natural Convergence is an Ottawa based software company that develops and markets broadband communications software to telecom carriers, enabling them to better serve their business customers. The company was founded in April 2001 and is financed by leading venture capital firms including Venture Investment Management Company, BDC, Primaxis, Jefferson Partners, Desjardins Venture Capital Group and Purple Angel.

For more information, visit www.naturalconvergence.com or call 613-725-2030.

About Nuera
Nuera Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure solutions that work over any medium (cable, wireless, copper and fiber). Nuera stands out as a leader in the broadband telephony market and helps define industry standards. The company's Open, Reliable Communications Architecture (ORCA®) product portfolio helps carriers worldwide migrate from legacy networks to next-generation VoIP networks.

For more information,visit please visit www.nuera.com.

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