New Gateway to Offer Virtual Second Line for InternetUsers.

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 1997--Telstra today announced a technical trial of Telstra and NetSpeak's (NASDAQ:NSPK) voice-over-Internet Protocol (IP) technology.

The trial will test a virtual second line, allowing customers with one telephone line to receive and make

An SS7 to IP telephony gateway, developed jointly by Telstra Research Laboratories (TRL) and NetSpeak, will be integrated into the Telstra network for the first time.

Mr. John Rolland, General Manager of Telstra Internet, said the trial will test how voice telephony can be reliably delivered over data networks.

"Today, if a customer is connected to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) using the telephone network, anyone trying to call would get a busy signal. With the Telstra/NetSpeak technology, the call can be rerouted to the ISP and presented to the Internet user through special software running on the user's PC," Mr. Rolland said.

"A telephone call that would ordinarily have been blocked can now be delivered to an Internet user as if the customer had a second telephone line. We also expect that this technology will support an `Icon Calling' service in the future."

"There is no longer a fixed relationship between a particular network or transport technology and the services that it carries. Telstra and other carriers will be able to use all their available resources to carry a full range of traffic types, providing much more efficient use of infrastructure, and a much more feature-rich set of services to the user," Mr. Rolland said.

Mr. Peter Clark, NetSpeak's Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific Region, said the trial was significant in the evolution of convergence of voice and data networks.

"The Telstra and NetSpeak combined solution is unique because it sits within the carrier Network as an integral component," Mr. Clark said.

"We have worked together for more than a year to develop a highly integrated, extremely reliable carrier-grade solution that can be deployed easily and quickly by carriers around the world," he added.

Telstra undertook a joint development with NetSpeak to combine NetSpeak's voice-over-IP technology with the SS7 Network Signalling Systems developed by TRL.

Telstra enhanced its SS7 Network Signalling System to allow it to communicate directly with NetSpeak's core IP telephony communications products, which includes it WGX telephony gateway, connection and directory services and network management services. This modification allows regular telephone calls to be placed over IP networks such as the Internet and SS7 networks, to 'see' NetSpeak's WebPhone IP Telephony software as if it was a regular telephone.