MCIP Mci (MM)

New Expanded Suite Gives Customers Unprecedented Choice and Greater Simplicity in Moving to Converged Environment BOSTON, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FALL 2005 VON -- Helping companies simplify the move to IP Telephony, MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCIP) today announced it has expanded its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) suite of services to include two new solutions-Managed IP PBX and IP Trunking Services. With MCI's newly-extended Advantage portfolio, companies can now choose the VoIP solution that best matches their business and technical needs, while taking advantage of their existing voice and data infrastructure. Solutions can be hosted within MCI's network, located at the customer's premise or a hybrid of the two, giving customers far greater flexibility. MCI's next-generation VoIP portfolio consists of four enterprise solutions and includes its newest additions-Managed IP PBX and IP Trunking - to its flagship Hosted IP Centrex and IP Integrated Access offerings. The new solutions are ideal for a broad range of companies and MCI Advantage customers, such as Officescape, already are experiencing the same reliability, quality and calling features they have come to expect from traditional business telephone services, with the cost savings opportunities and multimedia applications that VoIP makes possible. "MCI is helping customers transition to a converged IP environment at their own pace and path," said Nancy Gofus, MCI senior vice president of IP Services. "We know that one-size-doesn't-fit-all and with our new portfolio MCI is well-positioned to help customers simplify the complexity of deploying and operating VoIP services, while eliminating the traditional constraints of migrating to a converged IP environment." According to industry experts, the adoption of VoIP is now just beginning to gain critical mass. Infonetics Research forecasts the North American market for business VoIP services will grow from $1.8 billion in 2005 to $11.4 billion in 2009. With savings opportunities in cost and resources, voice over IP enables companies to realize more value from their current infrastructure while deriving new functionality. With IP convergence, enterprises can expect to pay for less bandwidth overall, reduce management complexity, procurement issues and billing headaches, all of which translate into lower costs and better utilization of resources for enterprise customers. As MCI's latest addition to its portfolio, Managed IP PBX Services allow customers such as Danka to offload the management of their premise-based IP telephony systems. From WAN to LAN, MCI is extending its networking capabilities and combining its global networking, voice and security offerings to deliver a comprehensive managed IP telephony solution with high levels of performance, reliability and restoration. MCI's new offering is based on Cisco's cost efficient and highly scalable CallManager platform with assistance in the design and implementation from NEC Unified Solutions, a leader in converged voice and data solutions. MCI will provide the ongoing management and continuous optimization of the IP PBX solution, as well as aid in the planning, designing, and implementation phases of the service, delivering a true end-to-end solution for enterprise customers. "At Danka, we partnered with MCI to run our critical communications infrastructure," said Michael Wedge, CIO of Danka. "With MCI's Private IP infrastructure and IP PBX management, we are able to achieve high levels of performance yet gain additional functionality through the use of IP, all while significantly reducing our communications costs." MCI's other new addition to its portfolio is its Advantage IP Trunking Service which uniquely enables customers to use converged access to carry local, long distance and data traffic, eliminating the need for multiple access facilities for each separate service, greatly simplifying the deployment and management of enterprise VoIP services. MCI's new service also performs the conversion and termination of VoIP calls via its network-based IP gateways. As a result, customers no longer need to purchase and manage costly premise-based IP to PSTN gateways, traditionally used to terminate calls to non-VoIP locations. MCI's IP Trunking offering is initially available with Cisco CallManager with plans to roll-out additional IP PBX platforms in 2006. This service is the perfect complement to MCI's new Managed IP PBX offering. With MCI's VoIP portfolio, benefits to customers are many. With all of its offerings, customers can tap into enhanced voice and data applications, helping to increase employee productivity both in and out of the office with an array of Web-based features. With the expansion of its IP Telephony capabilities, MCI offers customers integrated functionality, including call screening, simultaneous ring, auto attendant, third-party conferencing, and Web-based receptionist services. This enables MCI to offer large enterprise customers and their teleworkers the voice features they demand in a consolidated package, while delivering cost-effective new communications capabilities to smaller organizations. MCI's Advantage Services also are available with the company's MPLS-based offering and fastest growing service, Private IP. MCI's Private IP delivers an ideal VPN environment for high-priority applications like voice while enabling customers to achieve greater functionality and efficiencies from their current network operations and streamlined network management. Private IP's advanced MPLS platform allows businesses to gain better control over their networks and enhance efficiency by leveraging the inherent security and traffic management capabilities of MPLS along with Quality of Service (QoS) to deliver an ideal surround for carrying voice traffic. MCI's new dedicated team of IP Telephony experts work closely with each customer to understand their individual business and technical requirements to design, develop and implement a solution tailored to their specific communications environment. Available immediately, MCI's Advantage portfolio is backed by industry-leading service level guarantees. MCI will demonstrate its Advantage suite at Fall 2005 VON in Boston, Booth #1315. About MCI, Inc. MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCIP) is a leading global communications provider, delivering innovative, cost-effective, advanced communications connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers. With the industry's most expansive global IP backbone, based on the number of company-owned points of presence, and wholly-owned data networks, MCI develops the converged communications products and services that are the foundation for commerce and communications in today's market. For more information, go to http://www.mci.com/. DATASOURCE: MCI, Inc. CONTACT: Janet Brumfield of MCI, +1-800-644-NEWS, or Web site: http://www.mci.com/

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