New Gateways Integrate Multiple Legacy Telecom Systems to Enable
          Avaya/Lucent, NEC, and Nortel Customers to Migrate to SIP

    SEATTLE, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Citel Technologies, a global provider of
IP telephony and communications solutions, today showcased three new
CITELlink(TM) SIP Handset Gateways that allow enterprises, with multiple
office locations and/or remote workers, to migrate to a new converged Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP) communications solution while reusing their diverse
legacy telephone handsets. The new SIP gateways enable business users to
preserve the largest portion of their previous communications investment
-- their digital telephone handsets -- while benefiting from advanced SIP and
IP Centrex capabilities. The gateways are being demonstrated live at the Voice
on the Net (VON) tradeshow, slated for March 28 to April 1, at the Santa Clara
Convention Center, in Santa Clara, California, in Citel's booth #621.
    "Citel's new SIP gateways were developed with the customer's needs in mind
to help ease and accelerate their migration to Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP)," says Michael Robinson, Citel's CEO. "Many enterprises today have
voice networks with a diversity of legacy telecom equipment. These disjointed
voice networks have been built up over time, through local purchasing
decisions or through merger and acquisition. Part of Citel's mission is to
offer these customers a simple and cost effective way to bring order out of
chaos. With Citel's SIP gateways, enterprise customers can combine their
existing legacy equipment into a seamless enterprise voice network with
centralized administration and shared voice applications. The benefits include
lower operating costs, increased efficiency, and improved customer service."
    "Major carriers today also recognize the urgent need to move up the value
chain from basic bandwidth and connectivity solutions toward higher-value
advanced services and applications that increase business productivity for
their customers," adds Robinson. "Citel's new SIP gateways enable carriers to
deliver advanced telephony applications to enterprises of all sizes in a very
practical and cost-effective manner, and through existing telecom reseller
channels."
    Citel Technologies' SIP Handset Gateways enable traditional digital
handset users to benefit from a comprehensive suite of enhanced SIP telephony
services like hosted unified messaging as well as personal calling features
such as selective call forwarding, simultaneous ring to mobile and desktop
phones, click-to-dial, and many other advanced IP-based calling features.
    The live demonstrations at VON include a SIP-based call control server in
the United Kingdom connected, over the public Internet, to CITELlink SIP
Gateways at the show, in California, driving four different digital PBX
telephone groups:  Avaya/Lucent's Definity 6400 and 8400, NEC's DTERM Series
III and E, and Nortel's Meridian 1 and P-series telephones. Demonstrations
include station-to-station calling on one common dial plan, shared voice mail
and other applications, shared line appearances, group answering, and more.
    The CITELlink SIP Handset Gateway offers customers a simpler migration to
a converged infrastructure providing all the advanced features of an IP
telephony network, but with easier implementation, extended use, and new
functionality for traditional digital telephones. Avaya/Lucent, NEC, and
Nortel customers now have expanded choices when moving, renovating or
upgrading their voice networks. With CITELlink, customers can choose to
implement advanced new Hosted PBX and IP Centrex solutions while retaining up
to 65 percent of their existing communications investment -- the telephones
and associated wiring.
    The CITELlink SIP Handset Gateway is a rack mountable, 24-port network
appliance in a 1U enclosure. The gateway enables legacy digital telephones to
migrate easily and cost effectively to the rich applications of IP telephony
using SIP protocol. General availability of the various SIP gateways will be
announced later in 2004. The CITELlink IP Handset gateway, winner of the
prestigious Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Award for Enterprise
Communications Product of the Year, has been shipping since June 2002, and
over ten thousand ports are installed around the world. Citel is currently
shipping five handset gateways products:  three with 3Com, one with Mitel
Networks, and one SIP version. Integrations with additional leading digital
business telephones and partners will follow in 2004. Pricing on the CITELlink
gateways range from $100 to $130 per port, depending on the manufacturer. For
more information on the full range of digital telephone models currently
supported, please contact Citel at sales@citel.com.

    About Citel Technologies
    Citel Technologies is a global provider of unique IP telephony and
converged communications solutions, which bridge the two worlds of legacy PBX
telephones and next generation IP PBX and SIP systems. Citel works in
partnership with world leading telecom equipment manufacturers and suppliers
with the goal of simplifying and accelerating the transition to next
generation communications solutions. Since 1995, Citel has pioneered telephony
products. Citel is a private company with offices in Nottingham, England (UK),
Providence, Rhode Island (USA), and Seattle, Washington (USA). Citel's
products are sold through a global network of independent dealers and computer
resellers, as well as through strategic relationships with industry leaders
such as 3Com, BroadSoft, Mitel Networks, and Sylantro Systems. For more
information, please visit http://www.citel.com.

    For additional information and product photographs contact:
     Monica Drake, Corporate Communications, Citel Technologies
     206-957-6270, ext. 403
     pr@citel.com

    NOTE:  Citel and CITELlink are trademarks of Citel Technologies, Ltd.  All
other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders.