Taqua Switching Solutions Chosen By BalsamWest and MFG Services

RICHARDSON, Texas --(Business Wire)-- Taqua®, LLC, a leading supplier of next-generation switching systems and applications, today announced that MFG Services and BalsamWest FiberNET have chosen TaquaWorks™, the tightly integrated solution that combines the Taqua 7000 (T7000) and BroadSoft® BroadWorks®, the industry leading suite of enhanced applications.

Since 2000, the T7000 has been a favorite choice by competitive carriers as an economical way to establish new voice services in a scalable manner. The T7000's compact footprint and conservative resource requirements make it ideal for installation within any central office, collocation, or other smaller footprint situations. Establishing service with just two cards in a chassis is the most cost effective way to launch Class 5 TDM- or IP-based voice services. By tightly integrating BroadSoft® BroadWorks® with the T7000, competitive and incumbent exchange carriers of any size can provide an expansive set of enhanced applications for both residential and business subscribers.

As a new competitive local exchange carrier focusing on the New Mexico market, MFG Services choose to initiate its service offing with the TaquaWorks solution because of its advanced features and its cost-effective scalability. "We choose TaquaWorks to establish our competitive service offering because it is the most cost-effective way to deliver advanced services and the system is designed to grow with our business," said Anthony Smith, president & CEO of MFG Services, Inc. "As our business grows, we simply add more cards to slide into our existing chassis. That single chassis gives us the flexibly to provide a combination of TDM or VoIP services and up-sell the cutting edge TaquaWorks applications." Sylva, North Carolina-based BalsamWest FiberNET chose TaquaWorks, as its Class 5 system with integrated enhanced applications services. BalsamWest FiberNET is a leader in advancing knowledge-based companies, applications and technology in Western North Carolina, Northern Georgia, and Eastern Tennessee. BalsamWest is a fiber optic-based wholesale and enterprise telecommunications carrier that provides dark fiber, collocation and managed services via SONET & Ethernet. The company provides dedicated Internet connections to customers anywhere from 3 megabits to 1 gigabit per second.

"We looked at a variety of alternatives but the T7000 clearly provided the best economics combined with the industry's most advanced applications with TaquaWorks," said David Hubbs, CEO at BalsamWest FiberNET. "Providing differentiated enhanced applications for our service offerings was very important, and we like the fact that most of the world's largest carriers are using these applications within TaquaWorks, as well as the fact that the breadth and depth of the applications are always expanding." "The Taqua 7000 has always been a favorite choice of competitive carriers like MFG Services and BalsamWest FiberNET because of its pay-as-you-grow architecture," said Scott Weidenfeller, chief marketing officer of Taqua, LLC. "Since we launched the TaquaWorks solution set eighteen months ago, an ever increasing number competitive and incumbent carriers are choosing this enhanced solution that combines Taqua's unique switching platform with the world's leading enhanced application, BroadSoft® BroadWorks®. Regardless of the size or type of carrier, TaquaWorks enables the service differentiation and ability to create new revenue streams more and more carriers require to be successful in their competitive market.

About the Taqua 7000 Switching System (T7000) The Taqua 7000 Switching System (T7000) is a leader in Class 5 switch replacement and has successfully replaced virtually every brand and vintage of Class 5 switch in North America. The T7000 is based on a patented "switch-on-a-card" design, in which all the functions of a Class 5 switch or IP gateway are performed on a single circuit pack. The simplicity of the architecture enables the industry's lowest deployment and operational costs for an end-office exchange, as well as higher reliability with its fewer components. The field-hardened T7000 has been shipping since 2000 and can support a variety of protocols including SS7, SIP, MGCP, GR-303, CAS, NCS, PRI, GSM/CDMA, 2G, 3G, and 4G.

About Taqua®, LLC Established in 1998, Taqua is a leading supplier of next-generation switching systems and applications. With over 350 system deployments, the company's solutions are deployed by wireline, cable and wireless carriers as next-generation end-office exchanges. Taqua is the only supplier of next-generation solutions exclusively focused on small and medium sized wireline and/or wireless carriers. Taqua is headquartered in Richardson, TX with research and development located in Hyannis, MA and Richardson, TX and all manufacturing, R&D and support based in North America. More information on Taqua can be obtained by calling +1.972.692.1800, by email at simplify@taqua.com, or by browsing the website at www.taqua.com.