Funding for Telecom Services Platform Maker IP Unity Tops $48 Million.

Business Editors

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2001

IP Unity secures $24 million in third round financing from

Partech International, Battery Ventures, NEA, and

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

IP Unity, Inc., provider of a carrier

grade services platform for enhanced voice and telephony applications, today announced that it has raised $24 million in its third round of venture financing led by Partech International. Original investors Battery, NEA, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are among those re-committing to IP Unity in this latest round, bringing the total investment raised to $48 million. Proceeds will be used to bring their carrier grade service platform -- which includes media servers, applications servers and enhanced service applications -- to market.

The company also announced that Dave Welsh, General Partner with Partech International, has joined the board of IP Unity. Welsh brings technology management, finance, and legal expertise to the board, having worked as a software executive, investment banker, and corporate attorney.

IP Unity's media and application servers, coupled with their service applications and partner's applications allow customers to quickly and cost effectively offer revenue generating services such as conference bridging, interactive voice response (IVR), and unified messaging, while minimizing their capital exposure.

"Our solution works with all types of media on IP, TDM and ATM networks, so our customers can offer services associated with next generation networks while maintaining their investment in their legacy systems" said Arun Sobti, Chairman and CEO of IP Unity. "The fact that we have kept our blue chip investors round by round in this economic climate serves as a testament to our technology and vision for the future."

Added Dave Welsh, General Partner of Partech International, "We believe that IP Unity is two years ahead of the curve. IP Unity has developed original technology that addresses carriers' requirements for a cost effective solution for creating, market testing, and deploying enhanced voice and telephony services. Their solution provides an attractive business case today for delivering new services over legacy networks, while providing a seamless, scalable migration solution to packet-based networks of the future."

IP Unity unites multiple speech and Web applications for carrier class service creation and advanced audio processing capabilities such as IVR announcements, recording and playback, automated speech recognition, transcoding, text-to-speech, fax, voicemail, unified messaging, auto attendant and others on a common media server platform. Delivering multiple applications on a single platform makes the IP Unity solution ideal for deploying traditional speech services as well as enhanced speech/data/Web integrated applications in both voice-over-packet networks and legacy networks.

About IP Unity

Headquartered in Milpitas, CA., IP Unity delivers a carrier grade services platform for enhanced voice and telephony applications over ATM, TDM and VoIP Networks. The company's media servers, applications servers, enhanced service applications, and application partners allow customers to quickly and cost effectively offer new services associated with next generation networks while protecting their investment in legacy systems. IP Unity has closed three rounds of funding with blue chip investors including Battery, NEA and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Partech International. For More information, call 408-957-0800 or visit the company website at www.ipunity.com.