Press Release

Kentrox, a leading manufacturer of high-speed network access solutions, announced today its new line of QoS (Quality of Service) access routers, providing all-in-one business solutions for branch offices and small to medium businesses. The Q-Series access routers combine the functions of a high performance IP router, QoS appliance, VPN (Virtual Private Network) appliance, firewall, WAN access device and Ethernet switch, all in one box. Its graphical user interface (GUI) makes installation and configuration faster and easier for both network administrators and inexperienced installers, all at an affordable price of under $1,000.

"The Q-Series lowers the cost of branch office networks, with an all-in-one solution and GUI that simplify installation," said Dan Murray, Vice President of Marketing for Kentrox. "Businesses with Voice over IP, video or critical business applications can easily view network usage graphs and prioritize traffic to fine-tune their networks."

The Q-Series access routers can be used with Cisco® routers, making them fully interoperable with existing networks. With the web GUI, Kentrox Q-Series access routers are so easy to install and set up that businesses can avoid the cost of hiring outside resources or sending an experienced staff member from headquarters to install and maintain the router.

"The Q-Series is the low cost, all-in-one solution we were looking for," said Ed Wiggins, Senior Engineer at PacNet LLC, (www.pac-net.com) a provider of domestic and international Frame Relay and private line data telecommunications services based in Bellevue, WA. "Most importantly, the GUI makes it easy to install and maintain. This product came along for PacNet at the right time, and we are developing several new data products with the Q2200 in mind."

With its integrated, full-featured QoS appliance, the Q-Series router lets users quickly set up traffic-shaping policies and view graphical QoS reports. Using these graphs, users can easily monitor traffic performance to see whether critical applications are getting the necessary bandwidth, and modify QoS policies as needed for optimum performance.

"The purpose of QoS is to ensure that voice and video traffic performs well and to minimize the cost of wide area bandwidth," said Jim Metzler of Ashton, Metzler and Associates. "The use of an integrated approach to QoS deployment can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership for a branch office network."

Pricing and Availability

The first of the Q-Series family is the Q2200 T1 QoS Access Router. It supports Frame Relay, Internet or PPP networking over T1 or fractional T1 services. The Q2200 is priced at $995 list and is available now. The Q2300 Ethernet QoS Access Router supports business Ethernet, DSL and cable services, and will be available in the second quarter of 2004. Both products include an IP access router, QoS appliance, VPN appliance, firewall, Ethernet switch, web GUI and an optional modem for dial-in management. Installation services and maintenance plans are also available to help maintain business networks.