• June 2009 - Ten Equipment Vendors Make Control Plane Technology Top Priority in Global Interoperability Demonstration



• February 16, 2009 - ERIS4 and Marben Products announce Partnership and Breakthrough Performance



• February 2008 - Aria Networks and Marben Products demonstrate control of Ethernet provider backbone transport using Path Computation Elements at MPLS & Ethernet World Congress 2008



• October 2007 - Marben Products Proves Vendor Interoperability at IMS Plugfest III Event



• July 1, 2007 - NE Technologies, Inc. acquires Marben Products



• December 07, 2004 - Atos Origin Renews 3 year supplier contract with Lucent Technologies

FREMONT, Calif.- May 18, 2009 - Ten of the world`s leading optical networking equipment vendors are making control plane technology and Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) services a top priority by dedicating three months to interoperability testing during the OIF`s Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration 2009 - Enabling Broadband On-Demand Services. The participating vendors are coming together from across the globe including Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena Corporation, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Marben Products, NEC Corporation of America, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Sycamore Networks, Tellabs and ZTE. The test phase of the event has been underway in the following Carrier labs since March 2009: China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Orange Labs -France Telecom Group, KDDI R&D Labs, NTT, Telecom Italia and Verizon.

OIF participating members are testing the interoperability of EVPL services in the control and data planes over diverse transport technologies. Carriers are testing, in varying configurations, EVPL over the following transport types:

• Next generation TDM and wavelength transport using OTN
• Legacy TDM transport using SONET/SDH
• Packet transport technologies using PBB-TE and MPLS-based transport (Testing is based on ITU-T T-MPLS Recommendations that are being updated to align with the Joint IETF/ITU-T work on MPLS-TP)

The OIF`s UNI 2.0 supports Ethernet (EPL and EVPL) services, so the client can signal for EVPL service without regard to the technology layer used in the carrier network. Participants are also demonstrating multi-domain end-to-end service restoration utilizing E-NNI between vendor domains. The E-NNI is a key enabler, not only for interconnecting vendor control planes and technologies, but for value-added features such as Ethernet service delivery and end-end restoration.

"Participating vendors are testing a diverse range of technologies supporting carrier Ethernet services, using the OIF`s control plane IAs to demonstrate dynamic multi-vendor interoperability," said Lyndon Ong of Ciena and the OIF`s Technical Committee chair. "The OIF global demo tests vendors` ability to meet carrier transport needs in advanced technology, requiring vendors to install their products in carrier labs and support round the clock testing of the functionality and reliability of their optical equipment under the parameters of the OIF`s IAs."

Interoperability testing of heterogeneous network equipment includes multi-service optical network platforms, optical transport switches, ROADMs, NG SONET/SDH ADMs, digital and optical cross connects, carrier Ethernet multi-service switches, and carrier packet transport products.

The OIF`s 2009 Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration - Enabling Broadband On-Demand Services begins with intra-lab testing among each of the seven participating Carrier sites. The test sites are linked via virtual or real E-NNI connections, forming a global test network topology. The event enables testing with more vendor implementations, allowing carriers to access additional network resources beyond the boundaries of their existing networks on a global scale.

The demo will culminate in regional live showcases at iPOP (June 11, Tokyo, Japan); OIF Carrier Day (June, USA - invitation-only); and IIR WDM and Next Generation Networking (June 25, Nice, France, stand 24).

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About the OIF Launched in April of 1998, the OIF unites representatives from data and optical networking disciplines, including many of the world's leading carriers, component manufacturers and system vendors. The OIF promotes the development and deployment of interoperable networking solutions and services through the creation of Implementation Agreements (IAs) for optical, interconnect, network processing and component technologies, and optical networking systems. The OIF actively supports and extends the work of standards bodies with the goal of promoting worldwide compatibility of optical internetworking products. Working relationships or formal liaisons have been established with the Ethernet Alliance, IEEE 802.3, IETF, ITU-T Study Group 13, ITU-T Study Group 15, IPv6 Forum, MEF, ATIS OPTXS, ATIS TMOC, Rapid I/O, TMF, UXPi and the XFP MSA Group. Information on the OIF can be found at http://www.oiforum.com.

Barcelone, Mobile World Congress, February 16, 2009

The partnership will enable N-play operators to rapidly deploy truly diameter based solutions for managing convergent rating, charging and dynamic promotions

ERIS4, an international vendor of solutions for real-time convergent rating, charging and dynamic promotions, and Marben Products, an established provider of portable protocol suites for the control and management plans of New Generation Networks, today have announced the full integration of the MARBEN Diameter protocol stack within the WARP4 technology provided by ERIS4.

The integrated solution provides a truly standard diameter interface for managing authorization, rating, charging and the innovative dynamic promotions for prepaid and postpaid subscribers of n-play operators. It has been comprehensively benchmarked in real world scenarios for quad-play operators. Benchmark results show the ability to process several thousands of requests per second on entry level servers, making the integrated solution suitable for tier-1 operators as well as small new entrants.

“In a context where new players continuously join the network with innovative offerings, it is imperative for operators to provide open infrastructures able to rapidly manage new services, products and business models”, said the ERIS4 CTO Stefano Antonelli. “We do believe the Marben™ Diameter protocol stack will enable us to offer our customers a solution able to evolve at the required pace”.

“Diameter is rapidly growing to become a standard for open architectures, but the technical challenge is still in providing a truly standard interface able to support very challenging performance”, said the Marben IMS Product Manager Bruno Deslandes. “The benchmark carried out with ERIS4, which is well known for providing easy to integrate and future-open solutions with terrific performance, demonstrates achievement of our Diameter product for meeting requirements of mass market realtime charging”.

Marben Products and ERIS4 will present the joint solution during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 16 to 19 February at the booth number 2.1A16.

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About ERIS4 ERIS4 provides the market with solutions for managing real-time convergent rating and charging and to model and run dynamic promotions and multi-lvele bonus campaigns. WARP4 products are able to support n-play and can be used as standalone solutions or as effectively enhancements to legacy solutions. ERIS4 customers are in several countries and include mobile/fixed/WiMax/satellite operators, MVNOs/MVNEs, content provides, cable/satellite/digital TVs. www.eris4.com mail: ask[at]eris4[dot]com About Marben Products Since the 1980s, Marben Products is recognized as a leading provider of standards based protocol software for Service Providers, Equipment Manufacturers and Software Development Companies. Marben Products delivers highly robust and efficient signalling, routing and AAA solutions for the network control plane of Next Generation Networks (NGN) and the service control plane of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Telecom players such as: ADC, Adtran, Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Ciena, Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HP, Motorola, Nortel, Nokia Siemens, Sprint Nextel, Oracle, Tellabs, Telesciences have been trusting Marben Products for its high quality performance products, expertise and industry leading support. Marben Products is an affiliate of NE Technologies, Inc. www.marben-products.com

PARIS - (February 8, 2008) Aria Networks, a leading provider of network planning and path computation solutions for Next Generation Networks (NGNs) and Marben Products, an established provider of portable protocol suites for the control and management planes of NGNs , demonstrated that Ethernet Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) networks can be controlled using a combination of a GMPLS-based intelligent control plane and Path Computation Element (PCE) route computation servers at MPLS & Ethernet World Congress 2008 in Paris.

The demonstration used Aria's intelligent Virtual Network Topology (iVNT), the industry's most advanced network planning and path computation software suite. Marben Products' iVNT-enabled PCE platform utilises Marben Products' implementation of the IETF's PCE Protocol (PCEP) to provide rapid planning and activation of PBT networks and Ethernet services through their GMPLS-based control plane. Ensuring a Carrier Ethernet network can meet today's service demands, deliver exceptional quality of service, and exceed required service-levels requires the flexibility to compute complex and inter-dependent paths and to dynamically establish connections through the network. Aria and Marben-Products demonstrated real-time path computation of Ethernet service requests and showed the implementation of a variety of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards-based PCE capabilities, including the ability to fulfill many Ethernet service requests concurrently.

"PBT is a connection-oriented, packet-switching technology that enables wide-scale deployment of Ethernet Switched Paths (ESPs) as a deterministic transport mechanism, but establishing Ethernet services on PBT networks relies on instructions from management systems to set-up the paths. So it is a natural fit that PBT is controlled by the IETF's PCE, as PCE defines a framework for path-computation to be performed by an external system," said Daniel King, Vice President at Aria Networks. "Combining iVNT's path-computation capabilities with Marben Products' PCE platform enables the Ethernet PBT network and services to be managed with an unprecedented level of sophistication and control."

iVNT is an advanced and powerful solution suite for designing, planning, and operating NGNs and includes support for Ethernet-PBT, MPLS-TE, IP, GMPLS, WDM and VPN technologies.

"The model we demonstrated with Marben Products in Paris using Ethernet PBT is one we see increasing interest in from telecoms companies around the world." said Tony Fallows, CEO of Aria Networks, "NGNs are not built using only Ethernet technologies and the model we demonstrated with Marben Products is also demonstrable for other transport technologies such as MPLS and GMPLS, leveraging our modules in the iVNT suite." Read more ...

Light Reading press release

About Aria Networks Aria Networks develops and markets Operational Support System (OSS) software that enables telecommunications companies to plan and operate their converging Next-Generation Networks. Aria Networks is a privately funded company that was established in England in 2005 by leaders in the development of telecommunications technologies and Artificial-Intelligence (AI) software. www.aria-networks.com About Marben Products Since the 1980s, Marben Products is recognized as a leading provider of standards based protocol software for Service Providers, Equipment Manufacturers and Software Development Companies. Marben Products delivers highly robust and efficient signalling, routing and AAA solutions for the network control plane of Next Generation Networks (NGN) and the service control plane of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Marben Products is an affiliate of NE Technologies, Inc. www.marben-products.com

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Marben Products, an affiliate of NE Technologies and a long established provider of high performance portable protocol suites for the telecom industry, proved vendor compatibility at the IMS Forum's IMS Plugfest™ III interoperability test event held October 15-19 at IMS Interoperability Lab at UNH. Marben Products tested its MARBEN Diameter stack embedded in a newly developed HSS simulator. Through the HSS Simulator, MARBEN Diameter has successfully tested full implementation of the Cx and Sh Diameter interfaces against participants CSCF's, applications servers and other testing equipment.

"Committed to the development of standard compliant telecom protocols for 20 years we are convinced that IMS Forum Plugfest events are essential for ensuring the IMS promise of openness, vendor and services richness" said Philippe Cuer General Manager of Marben Products. "The work done by IMS Forum contributes significantly to the growth of IMS. This is beneficial to the whole IMS market: equipment vendors as well as service providers."

The IMS Forum's IMS Plugfest™ III is the third in a series of events that are designed to foster interoperability and certification for IMS services and applications. IMS Plugfests allow service providers to quickly realize revenue from their IMS investments by significantly reducing the time to market for new services and applications. "Participating in Plugfest III and witnessing the development activity around Diameter has provided an exciting perspective when compared to our first Plugfest event held back in January" added Cuer. "So much more is happening in such a short period of time"

"In IMS today, the focus is squarely on the Diameter protocol performance and how it handles Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting" said Manuel Vexler Chair of the IMS Technical Working Group of the IMS Forum. "The new generation of advanced and multimedia services applications being developed require the functionality of Diameter in order to be fully compliant with standards and the demands of the IMS marketplace" he added.

Plugfest III's vendor rich environment and feature complete test plan showcased the full capabilities of MARBEN Diameter to support AAA services required by these advanced applications and services. The MARBEN HSS simulator validated not only standard authentication queries of the Cx and Sh 3GPP interfaces, but also of advanced interface services and HSS functionalities such as profile storage and modification by IMS application.

In addition to Authentication/Authorization, MARBEN Diameter provides support for Accounting features that Marben Products is eager to put into practice at the next Plugfest.

About Marben Products Since the 1980s, Marben Products has been supplying portable software solutions that meet standards from the most established telecommunication standardization bodies. Marben Products is recognized as a leading provider of standards based protocol software for Service Providers, Equipment Manufacturers and Software Development Companies. Marben Products delivers highly robust and efficient signalling, routing and AAA solutions for the network control plane of Next Generation Networks (NGN) and the service control plane of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Major telecom players have been trusting Marben Products for its high quality performance products, expertise and industry leading support. Marben Products is an affiliate of NE Technologies, Inc. Please visit www.marben-products.com to learn how MARBEN Diameter can support your development efforts today. About NE Technologies, Inc. NE Technologies leads the telecom industry as a superior provider of software solutions required in the operation of service provider networks. Our products are deployed in hundreds of telecom networks across the globe, supporting mission critical network management applications and services. Headquartered in Norcross (Atlanta), GA, with offices in India and France, NE Technologies leads the OSS industry with a portfolio of field-proven software products and the technical expertise and telecommunications experience of its founders and staff. The company's portfolio comprises TMN Solutions that assist in the rapid development of OSS applications, a family of Carrier Gateways that automate the interface between service providers, the most widely deployed solution set for Local Number Portability and the suite of telecom protocol software developed by Marben Products. For more information about NE Technologies Inc, please visit www.netechinc.com. About the IMS Forum The IMS Forum™ is a global, non-profit industry association devoted to interoperable IP Multimedia Subsystems and NGN services and solutions. IMS Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of IMS applications and services, enabling enterprise and residential consumers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, internet and mobile content over broadband cable, wireless and fixed networks. The IMS Forum is the initiator and organizer of IMS Plugfest™, the industry's only event focused on IMS services interoperability verification and certification. Through its Plugfests, working group interaction, and other activities, forum members are able to develop cost-effective multi service delivery platforms for IP services over wireline, cable, 3G, WiFi and WiMAX networks. For additional information or to join the IMS Forum and the IMS Plugfest, please visit www.IMSForum.org. For Further Information contact: Mike Babigian NE Technologies Inc 770 453 9190 x224 mbabigian@netechinc.com IMS Forum PR Cathy Clarke 617 527 2089 PR@IMSForum.org

NE Technologies is proud to announce as of July 1, 2007 the acquisition of Marben Products including the Development, Support, Sales and Management Teams from Atos Origin Integration .

NE Technologies, founded in 1995, leads the telecom industry as a superior provider of software solutions required in the operation of service provider networks. NE Technologies products are deployed in hundreds of telecom networks across the globe, supporting mission critical network management applications and services.

NE Technologies has been a distributor for Marben Products since 2001 and with the acquisition of Marben, can now strengthen the product lines by creating a focused development, marketing and sales teams covering three main continents. NE Technologies is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with affiliate offices in India and now European presences in Paris with the Marben Product team joining the organization.

The combined teams look forward to serving our customers and supporting existing products while aggressively developing innovative solutions for Operational Support Systems.

Paris - December 7, 2004 - Atos Origin has renewed a 3 year contract with Lucent Technologies to supply its MARBEN Products to develop and maintain Management Plan and Signalling features for Lucent’s SONET, SDH, and DWDM optical equipment.

Through this worldwide contract, Atos Origin expands on a relationship it started with Lucent Technologies in the beginning of the 1990s. At the time, Atos Origin was supplying components for SDH and SONET-specific features and has now moved to MPLS oriented technologies.

“Atos Origin is proud of the long-term relationship it has with Lucent and now enhances its leadership as a supplier for the Optical equipment manufacturers of Management, Signalling and Control plan solutions » explain François GRUAU, Telecom Business Development Director, Atos Origin.

MARBEN Products: a leading line of telecommunication software solutions

MARBEN Products is a line of telecom software products developed by Atos Origin and dedicated to telecom providers. The MARBEN Products line includes world-class solutions such as OSI, IP, GR.253, GMPLS protocol suites for SONET, SDH, DWDM, OTN network management, ASN.1 tools and CDR Collection. For more than 15 years, Atos Origin provides worldwide its MARBEN Products for companies that require the highest quality and support from their suppliers. Atos Origin has extensive experience in porting its software technology to a wide variety of platforms ranging from mainframe and desktop systems to small embedded computers. The MARBEN Products are already deployed on hundred thousands network elements worldwide and widely used by major Telecom providers including Alcatel, Cegetel, Ciena, EDB Telesciences, HP, IBM, KPN, Logica CMG, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Siemens, Sprint, SUN, Telecordia, Telefonica, Tellabs, Thales …