European Equity Partners

Date: 16th May 2006
Title: PacketFront named "Cool Vendor" by leading analyst firm

PacketFront, the world leader in open access FTTH technology and next generation broadband aggregation, has been included in the list of "Cool Vendors" in the March 17, 2006 "Cool Vendors in Carrier Network Infrastructure, 2006" report by Peter Kjeldsen, et al of Gartner, Inc.

The vendors highlighted in this report are 'pragmatic innovators' that address clear opportunities enhancing critical elements in the telecom value chain, whether increasing top-line revenue through new services, or improving efficiency to ensure profits. They allow carriers to migrate their platforms toward the broadband, mobile intelligent networks of the future.

According to the report, "It is imperative that service providers move beyond traditional voice services, which are rapidly declining, toward a new portfolio of growth services. The new carrier network provides more than simple connectivity: it offers mobility, high capacity and intelligence. It provides a wide range of value added service with seeming ubiquity."

PacketFront has from a pretty early stage focused its triple-play fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) portfolio on delivering truly operator-independent networks with support for multiple services from competing service providers.

"As a forward looking, genuinely innovative company, we are exceptionally pleased that Gartner has recognised us as a cool vendor in our space," said Martin Thunman, CEO of PacketFront. "Our solutions have re-defined the way in which broadband services such as triple play are delivered to users. We believe PacketFront's inclusion in Gartner's list reflects what our customers have been telling us since our very first deployment."

PacketFront's automated broadband solution provides a cost-efficient broadband infrastructure for the delivery of advanced triple-play services. The high level of automation provided in areas such as control of services, subscribers, and network elements is key in order to reach profitability in high-quality broadband deployment.

PacketFront's automated broadband solution:

	Keeps OPEX and CAPEX low through a high level of automation and a unique set of technical features
	Increases revenue through giving maximum flexibility in creating and differentiating advanced triple-play services
	Provides open access per service, allowing total flexibility in the choice of business model, as well as unique wholesale opportunities

PacketFront provides the intelligence behind some of the world's most advanced and demanding triple play networks. For instance, for DIC, PacketFront facilitates the deployment of an impressive 150 IPTV channels, while a recent deployment in Ireland for Magnet Entertainment involved the delivery of 100 IPTV channels over PacketFront's broadband network.

About Gartner's Cool Vendors Selection Process
Gartner's listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.

Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they couldn't do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner's interest or curiosity in approximately the past six months.