Multiservice Switching Forum welcomes Korean Telecom, ETRI executives to Board of Directors

22 July 2003 Fremont, CA Lightwave--Following its most recent meeting in Ottawa, Canada, the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) announced today that Hongbeom Jeon, managing director of Korea Telecom's Technology Investigation & Evaluation Center and Byung-Sun Lee, softswitch team leader at Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) have been elected to the MSF board of directors.

The Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) is a global association of service providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems (MSS). Multiservice switching systems of the future will be based on a distributed switching method--frame, cell or packet-based--designed to support voice, video, private line and data such as ATM, Frame Relay and Internet Protocol (IP) services. Multiservice switching systems may use a broad range of access technologies, including traditional TDM, xDSL, wireless data, and cable modems. Multiserrve switching forum Implementation Agreements (IAs) define the requirements of the interfaces between components of a MSS.

"We are very fortunate to have Lee and Jeon join our board at this time," said Roger Ward, MSF president. "As the MSF continues to serve an international community, the participation of carriers and vendors in Asia is key to our success. With the addition of Korea Telecom and ETRI to our board, the MSF has added two of the technology leaders in the Asian telecom industry."

"The MSF is leading the next generation telecommunications movement by providing viable implementation agreements for carriers," said Hongbeom Jeon. "Korea Telecom recognizes that we can benefit from the MSF by collaborating with other carriers and vendors and by helping shape the future of multiservice switching. KT is excited to play a role in the MSF's leadership and I look forward to contributing as a board member."

The MSF also announced that it has published two new technical reports focused specifically on telecommunications services. MSF R2 Service Architecture and Service Solutions in Next Generation Networks outline the MSF's viewpoint on service creation and delivery and provide a plan for overcoming the limitations of traditional voice service architectures. The reports can be accessed at: http://www.msforum.org/techinfo/reports.shtml

In addition, Operax, a Swedish, venture-backed maker of quality of service software, has joined the MSF as a Principal Member.

Founded in 1998, the MSF is an open-membership organization comprised of the world's leading telecommunications companies. The MSF's activities include developing implementation agreements, promoting worldwide compatibility and interoperability, and encouraging input to appropriate national and international standards bodies.