30th Advertising and Public Relations Firm Selects M5 Networks' Outsourced IP Phone System.

Kaplow Communications, a Fast-Growing Public Relations Firm, Selects M5 to Accommodate Growth

NEW YORK -- M5 Networks, one of the country's leading outsourced IP phone system providers, today announced its thirtieth advertising and public relations client with the addition of Kaplow Communications,

Initially, Kaplow looked into upgrading its PBX. However, they were reluctant to invest money in an outdated technology that would present the same problem each time the phone system reached its capacity due to the company's continuous growth. Chris Livingston, Kaplow's director of technology and research, turned to M5 Networks to help scale the company's phone system in anticipation of rapid growth. Livingston was familiar with M5 from previous work and recommended its Outsourced IP Phone System.

"The best thing about M5's Outsourced IP Phone System is the absolute ease of performing moves, adds and changes," said Livingston. "We can hire new employees, switch desks and move teams around without the help of an on-site technician. Prior to working with M5, we spent thousands per year on service calls alone. Now, our internal technical support time has been reduced to the few seconds it takes to send an email."

At the time of the implementation, the agency had less than fifty employees but foresaw additional growth. Kaplow needed a scaleable phone system solution that could accommodate future expansion and streamline communications between multiple offices. In addition, Kaplow can now communicate with their clients without interruption, thanks to M5's reliable service, which features redundant network connections and automatic failover capabilities. Mobility functions like off-net forwarding and remote worker support ensure Kaplow employees can communicate with clients - and with each other - even while on the road or working from home.

"M5's hosted IP phone system enables our employees to collaborate better with each other and with our clients and partners," continued Livingston. "M5 handles every step of the deployment and follow up with top-notch service and support. M5's system helps us provide superior client service by enabling constant contact with our clients -- a critical capability for PR firms like ours."

After careful planning and coordination with M5 project managers, the agency's phone system deployment was simple and was completed in less than three hours. Kaplow received redundant voice and data connectivity and an easily scalable phone system solution with remote usage capability. To help ease the transition, an M5 trainer was available on-site for an entire day to instruct employees how to use the new phone system. A few power users, such as the office manager and receptionist, also received additional training on advanced features and software applications.

"At the end of the day, every growing business wants to deal with a service provider they can trust -- one that stands behind their products and is sincerely committed to helping them succeed," said Dan Hoffman, president and CEO of M5 Networks. "That's what we expect from our vendors, and it's exactly what we provide our clients. We're committed to providing clients, like Kaplow Communications, with a full-service, one-stop solution that allows them to spend less time worrying about the phone system and more time focusing on mission-critical projects."

About Kaplow

Kaplow is an independent marketing communications agency known for taking best-in-class brands to the next level. We specialize in creating buzz, shaping perception, building businesses and driving the bottom line for our clients.

What distinguishes Kaplow? Our unparalleled access to media and our unsurpassed connections to influencers. Our flexibility and initiative. Our boundless imagination, fresh ideas, and depth of insight. And our deftness in cross-pollinating people, ideas, and strategies across industries and across borders. By intimately connecting clients to the people, industries, and opinion influencers who count, we're not just sparking conversations, we're changing them.

Headquartered in New York City, Kaplow has offices in Toronto and London. Please visit http://www.kaplowpr.com for more information.

About M5 Networks

M5 Networks is one of the country's leading outsourced IP phone system providers. By outsourcing to M5 instead of buying another phone system and signing more local and long distance contracts, businesses save valuable time and hard dollars. M5 was founded in 2000 by the same management team that ran Interport Communications, the ISP pioneer for New York businesses. M5 builds on that legacy by continually innovating to improve its outsourced phone system solution, which is delivering measurable ROI to companies in all industries. M5's core technology partners include Cisco, Verizon, AboveNet, Internap, Qwest, Broadwing and Tekelec.

Recognized as a leading company in the VoIP industry, M5 was named to the 2006 Inc. 500 (#272) and both the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (#54) and 2006 New York Technology Fast 50 (#5) awards programs. M5 has also been included on the Pulver 100 list as a Communications Growth Company for four consecutive years (2002-2005), FierceVoIP's annual Fierce 15 list in 2005 and the VoIP Magazine 20: Companies to Watch in 2006 list. M5 also received Frost & Sullivan's 2004 Entrepreneurial Company Award and the 2004 and 2005 VoIP Service Provider Awards, the 2005 Best SMB VoIP Service Provider Award and the 2006 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award from INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine. Small Business Technology Magazine named M5's Outsourced IP Phone System one of the finalists in its 2005 Product of the Year awards program. To learn more about M5, please visit http://www.m5net.com.