Sunnyvale, CA – April 14, 2008 –  ANDA Networks, the leader in carrier-class fiber and copper-based access network platforms, announced today that its EtherReach™ 1000 Series Ethernet Access platforms are now supported through the Soapstone Networks (NASDAQ:SOAP) PNC™ (Provider Network Controller) framework. The new support enables service providers to deploy, manage and integrate EtherReach access equipment into their management schema, thereby reducing the time required either for adopting new PBT architectures or for use with existing Q-in-Q based service deployments on an end-to-end basis.

The collaboration with Soapstone provides a carrier-grade resource and service control plane to enable carriers to rapidly take advantage of new cost effective PBT/PBB architectures from the customer premises to the PBT core to the carriers’ OSS. Carriers are able to eliminate time consuming static provisioning per Ethernet virtual circuit and costly integration into the back office.

To ensure end-to end interoperability with other large upstream OEM network elements, ANDA and Soapstone have completed interoperability testing between Soapstone’s PNC and ANDA’s EtherReach 1000 series products. Soapstone has added support for the ANDA platform to its multi-vendor control plane framework. This expands ANDA’s ability to provide carriers with a highly cost-effective Ethernet transport solution, network manageability and interoperability for PBT/PBB-TE standards as well as traditional Q-in-Q and MPLS deployment options.

With the new support, feature development is increased, interoperability issues across an end-to-end multi-vendor network are reduced, and feature upgrades including OAM (operations, administration and management) functions are accelerated. In addition, service requests from the OSS can be fulfilled by the transport network to ensure a consistent user quality of experience without a long provisioning cycle. The ability to deliver pre-integrated interoperable solutions from the services layer to the transport network promotes openness and choice for end-to-end Ethernet deployments.  

"ANDA's EtherReach 1000 series access platforms are compact 1RU platforms with high-value features such as support for new 802.1ag, Y.1731 OAM capabilities and sub-50ms PBT protection schemes that are important to demonstrate our ability to deliver true end-to-end PBT control plane functionality," notes Esmeralda Swartz, SVP Marketing and Business Development at Soapstone Networks. "We are pleased to welcome ANDA to the Soapstone Networks Alliance Partner Program (SNAPP™), which brings together leading vendor partners to drive interoperability and manageability for Carrier Ethernet based networks."

"Some service providers have been reluctant to implement PBT due to lack of a control plane solution," said Charles Kenmore, president and CEO of ANDA Networks. "With our joint work with Soapstone, we continue to enhance our management options for our carrier customers to ensure they can rapidly adopt new protocols and methodologies for an end-to-end control plane that will enable a truly interoperable and open network consisting of multiple vendors' products." 

The EtherReach 1000 series is part of ANDA's family of EtherTone™ carrier-class Metro Ethernet access, aggregation and transport platforms. EtherReach 1000 provides intelligent demarcation between provider and subscriber networks allowing the carrier visibility into customers' networks for end-to-end management. With EtherReach 1000 fiber based NTE products, ANDA provides a complete portfolio of access platforms with carrier-class quality of service and universal interface capabilities. All EtherTone platforms are MEF 9 (UNI) & MEF14 (QOS) certified.

Visit ANDA Networks and Soapstone Networks at the Ethernet Expo London, April 14-16, at booths 200 and 100, for a live demonstration of end-to-end dynamic construction of services across a multi-vendor PBT network.


About ANDA Networks

ANDA Networks, Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, provides carrier-class Ethernet platforms delivering cost-effective Metro Ethernet services over fiber, copper and wireless access networks worldwide. Deployed on several tier-one carriers’ networks globally, ANDA's Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certified access products allow carriers to solve bandwidth and functionality limits, effectively facilitating migration to next-generation network services. The ANDA EtherTone® family of products enable carriers to deliver Ethernet private lines, converged VoIP, and circuit-to-packet managed services by leveraging highly economical Ethernet technology. For more information, please visit  http://www.andanetworks.com

About Soapstone Networks

Soapstone Networks is at the forefront of the movement to Carrier Ethernet by delivering resource and service control systems that realize NGN software-provisioned services in the new Carrier Ethernet transport network. Soapstone's common control framework decouples services from underlying network technologies. The Soapstone solution dynamically provisions precise, SLA-quality services, continuously optimizing utilization of network resources to bring orderly, predictable business-driven behavior to service provider networks. Accelerating Innovation - http://www.soapstonenetworks.com