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Press Release
BroadSoft's BroadWorks Application Helps Provide
Fixed/Mobile Convergence for Midwest Wireless Subscribers
'oneWave' Residential and Business Customers Will
Enjoy Advanced VoIP Features Via Both Cellular and Office or Home
IP Phones
GAITHERSBURG, MD, June 29, 2005 - BroadSoft,
Inc., the leading provider of VoIP application software, today announced
that Midwest Wireless has deployed the BroadSoft® BroadWorks®
platform. This application will support Midwest Wireless' innovative
oneWave, one of the nation's first seamlessly converged mobile/fixed
communications services.
Using BroadWorks®, Midwest Wireless is able to offer its subscribers
unified phone numbers and pricing plans, as well as enhanced quality
in previously determined "dead zones." Additionally, subscribers
are in control of how they manage their calls and are able to:
- tap into the same bucket of minutes for their fixed or mobile
service
- direct multiple mobile phones to the same broadband phone
- place calls - free of charge - between their mobile and broadband
phones
Midwest Wireless is now able to provide added functionality to
its wireless customers while simultaneously providing a service
that is both fixed and mobile - without the added capital expenditures
of building additional cellular towers. In a single platform BroadWorks
hosts a comprehensive breadth of enterprise and consumer VoIP applications,
including Hosted PBX, IP Centrex, Mobile PBX, Residential Broadband,
and Business Trunking.
A single oneWave phone number will unite the Midwest Wireless subscriber's
wireless and integrated home or office phone service that utilizes
voice over IP (VoIP). The result is a single service with one phone
number and one voicemail box shared by the customer's cellular and
broadband phones. oneWave also provides the subscriber with a set
of features including simultaneous ring, caller ID, call forwarding,
call waiting, 3-way calling and Web-based service self-management.
"In today's communications world, it can be extremely challenging
for subscribers to juggle multiple services, numbers and voicemail
boxes," said Scott Bergs, COO of Midwest Wireless. The company currently
delivers wireless telephone and high-speed data services to more
than 400,000 subscribers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, and ranked
No. 25 on NPRG's December 2004 list of Top 150 Wireless Carriers.
"With BroadWorks, we are able to transform the competitive landscape
with a service that lets callers dial a person rather than a single
device or location and remove those restrictions from our customers,"
added Bergs.
Midwest Wireless' enterprise customers can replace their mobile
and/or landline telephone and data services with the oneWave integrated
cellular/broadband VoIP and data service. The hosted service will
deliver communications and collaboration features not typically
available from traditional business PBXs or Centrex services, such
as voice VPN, auto attendant, attendant console, call center functions,
unified messaging, selective call-forwarding, click-to-dial, conferencing
and IP video.
"Midwest Wireless' unique implementation underscores the flexibility
and breadth of the BroadWorks platform. This deployment of BroadWorks
also represents the first BroadSoft customer that combines both
a wireless and wireline product," said Michael Tessler, CEO of BroadSoft.
"Together, BroadSoft and Midwest Wireless are setting a new benchmark
for converged wireless and wireline services."
The BroadWorks deployment enables Midwest Wireless - BroadSoft's
first announced wireless carrier customer - to immediately combine
disparate technologies at the services level, paving the way for
eventually replacing separate wireless voice and data networks with
a unified IP infrastructure. The carrier will replace its traditional
circuit-based cellular phone switching with a Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP)-based VoIP architecture.
Through SIP, BroadWorks will interwork with softswitches and signaling
gateways to enable the sharing of phone numbers and feature sets
across cell phones and broadband-connected IP phones. Infrastructure-independent
BroadWorks is the first application server compliant with emerging
IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) fixed/wireless convergence architecture
standards.
ABOUT MIDWEST WIRELESS
Based in Mankato, Minn., Midwest Wireless is a leading regional
wireless services provider with more than 400,000 customers in Minnesota,
Iowa and Wisconsin. With a company-wide focus on customer satisfaction,
Midwest Wireless has one of the highest customer loyalty rates in
the industry. Considered a pioneer in providing the newest communications
technology to rural areas, Midwest Wireless offers wireless phone
services, as well as mobile Internet access on phones and wireless
devices. In many areas, Midwest Wireless offers broadband Internet,
providing high-speed access to homes and businesses.
ABOUT BROADSOFT
BroadSoft's VoIP application software is revolutionizing
the delivery of hosted telephony and multimedia services. Its flagship
BroadWorks® technology empowers wireless and wireline carriers
to deliver next-generation voice and multimedia applications and
advanced features that increase revenue, enhance competitive differentiation
and elevate customer satisfaction. BroadSoft's family of carrier-class
software products delivers the scale, open architecture and reliability
that the world's leading telecommunications companies demand to
serve mission-critical enterprise and residential broadband customers.
BroadSoft's customer base of more than 100 network operators, including
BellSouth, MCI, Singtel, Telstra, Verizon and XO Communications,
leads the industry with more than 1,000,000 lines deployed. Additional
information is available at www.broadsoft.com
.
BroadSoft and BroadWorks are registered trademarks of BroadSoft,
Inc. All other names are trademarks of their respective companies.
For further information contact:
BroadSoft
Hilary Tomasson
+1 (240) 364-5147
htomasson@broadsoft.com
Calysto Communications for BroadSoft
Nancy Bistritz
+1 (404)266-2060 ext.15
nbistritz@calysto.com
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