Sphere Communications Demonstrates New Features:

Expands Alliance Support, Delivers an Enterprise Telecom API, and further increases Scalability

Sphere continues to expand its software-based open system approach for enterprise telecommunications, demonstrating a multitude of options at industry tradeshow VoiceCon

VoiceCon, Booth 531 - Orlando, Fla. – February 7, 2005 – Sphere Communications announced today it is demonstrating the new release of its Sphericall enterprise telecommunications software this week at VoiceCon 2005 Conference & Exhibition.

Sphere Communications, a VoiceCon Gold Sponsor, is demonstrating a complete, operational enterprise telecommunications system on the expo show floor in booth #531. Sphericall software is being shown interoperating with a range of endpoints and gateways such as Cisco, Polycom and Sayson IP Telephones; AudioCodes and Allied Telesyn media gateways; WiFi-based IP telephony using Spectralink 802.11 IP wireless IP phones; and WiFi-based PDAs running XTen Pocket PC SIP softphone.

“Sphere continues to provide organizations an ever-expanding range of options for their enterprise telecommunications, delivering more flexibility for budgeting and deployments than ever before,” said Todd Landry, VP of Marketing and Product Management for Sphere Communications. “We have at least a dozen different communication options showing here at VoiceCon, all operating on the proven and reliable Sphericall enterprise telecommunications software platform that scales up to 30,000 users across any number of locations.”

Sphericall version 4.1 software, now shipping, offers expanded support for additional enterprise communications end points as well as numerous new features and enhancements, including a communications API for enterprise software integration. This new release further expands the options enterprises have in deploying and customizing IP-based telephony solutions to fit their exact needs and enable tight integration with key business processes.

“Sphere’s approach to open systems combined with their new telecommunications API allows us to offer significant integration possibilities for our customers,” said Don Couchman, President, Lane Systems a new Sphere Certified Partner, “As a solution provider that delivers business process improvement, we were looking for a highly scalable communications platform that enables Lane to provide dramatically better solutions for our customers. Sphere has scalability, centralized manageability and support for geographically dispersed installations built into its DNA.”

Sphericall software runs on industry standard servers, enabling organizations of all kinds to deploy their enterprise telecommunications as an application on their existing data network in the same way as other enterprise-class software is deployed today. Sphericall is built on a core architecture that provides for highly distributed deployments across the enterprise, delivering extreme scalability and the highest reliability.

“The difference between Sphere’s bottom-up design approach compared to a more typical, patched, evolutionary approach cannot be over-emphasized. Even a brief introduction to Sphere makes it clear that their product capabilities were architected in from the beginning.” said Couchman.

As part of the new 4.1 release, Sphere Communications now includes the Sphere COM Objects library, a communications Application Program Interface (API) which enables tight integration between telecommunications and enterprise business applications, such as CRM, ERP and web-based interfaces for enterprise intranets. The kit includes full documentation, example web and database applications, and sample source code.

“Sphere has simply figured out how to make a lot of great features extremely easy to use,” said Karen Pardue, an Executive Assistant at Florexpo, who is also able to handle their end user moves, adds and changes based on the simplicity of the Sphericall system. Florexpo, a west coast mass market flower distributor views technology as a strategic advantage, but only when the technology can be simplified for their actual use. Florexpo, which beta tested Sphere’s new version 4.1, is now rolling out this version across their entire enterprise. “We are excited about finishing our rollout of the system. The efficiency it provides in our communications is amazing,” said Pardue.

To further simplify both enterprise rollouts and ongoing support of the Sphericall Desktop software, version 4.1 supports Microsoft Software Installer (MSI) and Group Policy which ensures Sphericall can continue to be deployed and managed as any other enterprise-class software.

Certified for use by the Department of Defense for its major initiatives in voice-over-IP, Sphericall software has passed the extremely rigorous military testing environment operated by the DoD’s Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). “While there are many other testing entities out there, JITC tests are the most stringent. Any enterprise should recognize this as great validation for the reliability and security of the Sphericall VoIP system”, said Landry. To date, Sphericall is the only IP PBX system of its kind to pass JITC testing. In addition to this demonstrated leadership in security and reliability, Sphericall 4.1 further extends its leadership in scalability with support for up to 30,000 end points on a single system.

About Sphere Communications
Sphere has provided leadership to the enterprise IP-based PBX industry for over 10 years and is the premier provider of patented enterprise telecommunications software technology. Sphere’s simplified multi-mode communications for enterprises known as Sphericall, provides the highest level of reliability, scalability, and simplicity in the industry. Founded in 1994 Sphere Communications headquarters is located in Lincolnshire, Illinois. For more information please see the Sphere Communications web site at www.spherecom.com .