Posted: 07/1999

Group Forms SoftSwitch Consortium

A group of telecommunications companies has formed the SoftSwitch Consortium, which
will promote open standards and protocols and new application development for a
distributed set of hardware and software platforms to connect seamlessly to the public
switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. Founding members include Cisco Systems
Inc., San Jose, Calif.; Enron Communications Inc., Portland, Ore.; Hewlett-Packard Co.,
Palo Alto, Calif.; Level 3 Communications Inc., Omaha, Neb.; Lucent Technologies Inc.,
Murray Hill, N.J.; Nortel Networks, Richardson, Texas; NorthPoint Communications Inc., San
Francisco; pulver.com; Rhythms NetConnections Inc., Englewood, Colo.; and Telcordia
Technologies Inc., Morristown, N.J.