CHICAGO, June 22, 2004 - Carrier Ethernet pioneer Riverstone Networks (RSTN.PK) today announced at Supercomm that it is establishing an alliance program with other industry vendors to accelerate the rollout of Ethernet services within the metro. The global program will pair Riverstone's MPLS-based Ethernet solutions with complementary, best-in-class products and solutions to help service providers, multiservice operators (MSOs) and municipalities cost-effectively deliver a myriad of IP voice, video and data services directly to both residential and business end-users.

The program offers two levels of participation ranging from co-marketing and sales references to full certification on Riverstone's equipment and joint sales engagements. Participants provide each other with training and support for each other's solutions. To qualify, vendors must have a complementary product with proven interoperability with Riverstone's solutions.

As the requirement for bandwidth-intensive residential services such as video on demand and gaming grow, service providers are increasingly under pressure to look beyond copper wire dial-up and ADSL to provide residential network access. At the same time, the move toward fiber access, including Ethernet, represents a significant opportunity for service providers to grow revenues. In a recent study entitled "Worldwide Fiber Access Equipment 2004-2008 Forecast and Analysis," IDC forecasts that service providers' fiber access revenues will increase at a 37 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next four years from $503 million in 2003 to $2.4 billion by the end of 2008.

"Carrier Ethernet gives service providers the flexible, high-speed broadband connectivity they need to provide popular new video and data services without breaking the bank," said Dave Ginsburg, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, Riverstone Networks. "The combination of Carrier Ethernet with other metro technologies such as residential gateways, circuit emulation and optical transport provides a truly compelling Ethernet services business case."

Riverstone is exploring the possibility of Ethernet Edge relationships with a number of vendors including Axerra Networks, ADVA Optical Networking and MRV. In addition, Riverstone will have a display of some of these vendors' edge solutions on its booth at Supercomm (booth 10817, north hall).

Riverstone Networks, Inc. (RSTN.PK) is a leading provider of carrier-class solutions for next generation metro Ethernet networks. Riverstone's metro routers and provisioning solutions deliver the ease of use, cost effectiveness, and flexibility that carriers require in meeting their customers' IP networking requirements in support of voice, video, and data services. Riverstone uniquely permits carriers to offer homogeneous services across existing revenue-generating networks and new Ethernet deployments.

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