Cricket Jumps on the Benefits of VoIP Peering with Acme Packet

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acme Packet® (NASDAQ: APKT), the leader in session border control solutions, today announced that Cricket Communications, the operating subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, has deployed Acme Packet’s session border controllers (SBCs) to securely interconnect its VoIP core network to other service providers. Cricket is one of the first mobile operators in the United States to interconnect its VoIP core via IP to other service providers for PSTN origination and termination.

“For Cricket to succeed in a highly competitive mobile marketplace, our network design called for minimal capital expenditures while leveraging a high-quality, state-of-the art all-IP core”

Cricket is a simple, affordable wireless service offering consumers and local businesses a flat-rate, unlimited service utilizing the latest infrastructure technology. Cricket offers service in 23 states and has more than three million customers. Designed for customers whose basic and advanced wireless needs have not been met by traditional communications companies, Cricket is the pioneer of unlimited services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required.

After initial Acme Packet Net-Net® 4000 Session Director deployments in 2006, Cricket is now expanding with the deployment of Acme Packet’s Net-Net 9000 hardware platform, in multiple points-of-presence (PoPs) to meet the increasing traffic demands as Cricket’s subscriber base continues to grow. Acme Packet’s Net-SAFE® security architecture features denial of service (DoS) attack prevention, access control lists and signaling rate limiting, providing security and assured network availability for Cricket's VoIP interconnects to various business partners. Acme Packet’s SIP call routing and load balancing features distribute voice traffic to peering partners, ensuring service availability, while its QoS marking and mapping of in-bound calls enable priority treatment for assured call quality. Cricket also uses the SBC accounting features for billing and network planning.

“For Cricket to succeed in a highly competitive mobile marketplace, our network design called for minimal capital expenditures while leveraging a high-quality, state-of-the art all-IP core,” explained John Saboe, vice president of engineering at Cricket Communications. “This allows us to interconnect with other service providers via IP, optimizing operational aspects such as time-to-market and costs. Acme Packet’s SBCs offer unmatched performance along with the security and control features we required to realize our goal for secure VoIP interconnects.”

“Cricket is a proven innovator and provides its subscribers with compelling mobile voice and data services,” said Seamus Hourihan, vice president of marketing and product management for Acme Packet. “With our session border controllers, Cricket is leveraging VoIP interconnects to enhance its ability to rapidly innovate while reducing costs.”

About Acme Packet

Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT), the leader in session border control solutions, enables the delivery of trusted, first class interactive communications—voice, video and multimedia sessions—and data services across IP network borders. Our Net-Net family of session border controllers, multiservice security gateways and session routing proxies supports multiple applications in service provider, large enterprise and contact center networks—from VoIP trunking to hosted enterprise and residential services to fixed-mobile convergence. They satisfy critical security, service assurance and regulatory requirements in wireline, cable and wireless networks; and support multiple protocols—SIP, H.323, MGCP/NCS and H.248—and multiple border points—interconnect, access and data center. Our products have been selected by 500 customers in 85 countries, including 24 of the top 25, and 82 of the top 100 service providers in the world. For more information, contact us at +1 781.328.4400, or visit www.acmepacket.com.

Acme Packet Safe Harbor Statement

Statements contained herein that are not historical fact may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements may relate, among other things, to our position in the session border control market, our expected financial and operating results, our ability to build and grow Acme Packet, the benefits of our product, and our ability to achieve our goals, plans and objectives. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These include, but are not limited to: difficulties in growing our customer base, difficulties leveraging market opportunities, difficulties providing solutions that meet the needs of customers, poor product sales, long sales cycles, difficulty developing new products, difficulty in relationships with vendors and partners, higher risk in international operations, difficulty managing rapid growth, and increased competition. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially form those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in our recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in such filings.