Softbank BB deploys CommuniGate Pro Cluster for its Fully Integrated IP Services

CommuniGate Pro delivers carrier grade Unified Communications for massive subscriber base

Mill Valley, CA - November 6, 2007 - CommuniGate Systems, the leader in carrier-class Internet Communications solutions, announced today that SOFTBANK BB Corporation (SBB) has launched "BB Communicator", a new integrated communication service based on the CommuniGate Pro Unified Communications platform. Softbank BB, the largest shareholder of Yahoo! Japan, made the BB Communicator service available as a part of the YahooBB, Yahoo broadband offering. With this service, users can enjoy applications such as IP phone, e-mail, calendaring and address books regardless of their internet service provider (ISP), when they are connected through their broadband environment. After an extensive pilot system, the service went live on November 1, 2007.

"BB Communicator" enables users to make inexpensive phone calls to fixed and mobile phones, in addition to free calling among "BB Communicator," BB Phone and BB Phone fiber optic users. SBB has over 4.8 million subscribers of IP Phone in Japan, making this one of the world's largest IP phone services.

"We evaluated a number of solutions for "BB Communicator" and after careful evaluation, we selected CommuniGate Pro because of the platform's proven high reliability, scalability and performance; the ability to easily add nodes as needed without stopping the system; its ease of manageability even for very large deployments; as well as the ability to easily customize VoIP applications," said Daiki Orihara, General Manager, Business Development Dept., CNW Business Management Dept., Communication Network Division of Softbank BB

"The seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook's groupware features is another advantage of using CommuniGate Pro as the core engine behind our system infrastructure. We plan to continue capitalizing on the many new and exciting services offered by CommuniGate Pro including Web 2.0 and Fixed Mobile Convergence," continued Orihara.

CommuniGate Pro is a highly scalable and fully integrated internet communication server and development platform that provides 99.999% uptime with its truly unique dynamic clustering technology. In addition to IP calling, CommuniGate Pro provides "BB Communicator" customers with services such as e-mail, instant messaging, presence, calendar management, address books and rich media via the ASP (Application Service Provider) model. Regardless of their ISP, customers can use "BB Communicator" at home or away, in the office, hotel or Internet café. In the future, these features and applications will be available on mobile phones as well.

Key features of "BB Communicator' include:

Voice Services

• Incoming/outgoing IP phone
• Call transfer
• Voice mail
• TV Phone using PC

Application Services

• Robust security features on messaging (CloudMark anti-spam)
• Easily manageable schedule and calendar
• Secure instant messaging using encryption
• Presence

Looking ahead, SBB also plans to roll out another SaaS (Software as a Service) product targeting small- to mid-sized businesses and leverage CommuniGate Pro as an alternative to their MS Exchange server and groupware features.

"We are honored that Softbank BB has selected CommuniGate Pro for its "BB Communicator" services. This proves that CommuniGate Pro offers a truly unified communication solution that combines scalability, high performance and reliability in an easy-to-mange platform. This project was made possible through the joint collaboration of our Japanese partners, Dragon Networks Associates, Inc. and Open Technologies Corporation. Hitachi Software Engineering Corporation provided the hardware and its support. SBB is well known for being a catalyst and innovator in improving lives with the use of advanced technologies. Together with SBB, we hope to continue to bring innovative and exciting services to SBB and their valued customers throughout the Japanese market,” said Jon Doyle, Vice President of Business Development at CommuniGate Systems.

The CommuniGate Pro Enterprise Suite, including Pronto! a sleek, unified communications dashboard based on Adobe Flash® and Adobe Flex™ 2 technology, is available today at www.communigate.com/community, free for the first five users, making it a smart choice for small businesses or the home office network. For installations over five users, the CommuniGate Pro Enterprise Suite is priced starting at US$849 for 25 users. ISPs, Broadband and Mobile Operators can contact sales@communigate.com for pricing information.

About my BB Communicator
http://www.softbankbb.co.jp/news/press/2007/p0831_01.html https://bbcc.softbank.jp/personal/info/2007/071002_001.html

About Dragon Networks Associates
http://www.dragon-networks.com/

About Open Technologies Corporation
http://www.opentech.co.jp/AboutUs/index-e.html

About CloudMark
http://www.cloudmark.com/serviceproviders/company/

About SOFTBANK Group
Since its establishment in 1981, management policy of SOFTBANK Group has been to "endeavor to benefit society and the economy and maximize enterprise value by fostering the sharing of wisdom and knowledge gained through the IT revolution".
Foreseeing the advent of the PC era at the time of business establishment, the company got to market fast with the package software distribution business. In 1990s, before the dawn of the Internet era, we established Yahoo! Japan Corporation, and later established "Yahoo! Japan" which became the biggest Japanese Internet portal.

About CommuniGate Systems
Founded in 1991 and based in Mill Valley, California, CommuniGate Systems develops carrier-class Unified Communications and media delivery software for broadband and mobile operators to deliver value-added services and SaaS solutions. CommuniGate Systems delivers powerful mashups of Unified Communications technology mixed with media and entertainment applications for portals, social networks, enterprises and mobile communities. CommuniGate Systems is revolutionizing the Unified Communications industry with a unique Flash-based client framework Pronto! bringing together all forms of communication and breaking the leash to the desktop with Web 2.0 mobility.

CommuniGate Systems is the first choice in technology solutions for over 12,000 customers with over 130 million subscribers unifying e-mail, collaboration, IM, presence and VoIP with a single identity. The Unified Communications platform provides flexibility, performance, and scalability with benchmark proven architecture remaining unchallenged in the industry. Our technology powers OEM partner products ranging from embedded real time systems to powerful unified messaging platforms at top tier global network operators. The open development environment's simple APIs deliver extensible flexibility with a unique clustering technology for 99.999% uptime for the most demanding application environments.

The company is a trusted and financially stable vendor, maintaining the highest customer satisfaction levels in the Unified Communications industry with over 175 members in its partner network worldwide.