(Sophia Antipolis, September 29, 2004). Popular Telephony, the telecommunications middleware company and creator of Peerio™ – the innovative technology for server-free, peer-to-peer communications, and QuesCom, the leading European provider of GSM gateways for IP and ISDN environments, today announced that the QuesCom 400 GSM media gateway will support the serverless functionality of Peerio-based network, providing the essential call direction from IP to PSTN and vice versa.

This collaboration between the two companies “closes the circle” and brings about a full and complete serverless telephony solution for the corporate market. As a result, enterprises worldwide will benefit from significant savings by setting up the next generation telephony system comprised solely of Peerio-intelligent IP phones along with PeerioBiz™ soft-phones and a Peerio-enabled gateway, such as the QuesCom 400 GSM.

Peerio, announced earlier this year by Popular Telephony, is a groundbreaking middleware for embedded devices. It enables the devices to communicate directly with the full functionality of an IP-PBX, but without the need for a conventional PBX “box” or call controlling server. Inside an IP network, one Peerio-intelligent device can establish a connection with any and all other Peerio devices without the routing and intervention of a signaling or call control central point. Peerio is protocol-agnostic, supporting SIP, H.323 and all other standard and proprietary protocols. Additionally, Peerio is massively scalable, secure and reliable, as it supports all standard and advanced telephony features.

“Designed for mid-market PME’s, the QuesCom 400 GSM gateway is a vital addition to the long list of Peerio-compatible devices,” said Philippe Oros CEO at QuesCom. “No doubt, the QuesCom 400 GSM connected to Peerio-enabled devices and soft-phones will rapidly take its place amongst the driving technologies of the enterprise market.”

The QuesCom 400 GSM – Peerio™ combination will easily satisfy the needs of any business looking to reduce installation, maintenance and communication costs. Realistic savings of up to 80% can be achieved system-wide against the budget of a traditional telephony network. With reduced call costs via IP versus circuit-switched telephony, with server free operability, enhanced features and scalable up to 4 billion lines, Peerio and associated products are unique in the marketplace, answering the critical economic concerns of reducing communication costs and maintaining a high degree of service.

“The successful integration of our middleware into the QuesCom 400 GSM marks the second step in a very satisfying collaboration between the two companies,” confirms Sandra Mandine, Popular Telephony’s marketing director. “Integrated gateways like the QuesCom 400 GSM will bring a new dimension of simplicity to the rapid replacement of traditional networks by serverless IP systems, while supporting all advanced features of enterprise telephony”.

Businesses still tied to their PBX will also be able to take advantage of this new solution because it allows new and remote sites to operate serverless IP networks and still have full access to the PSTN and mother-network – a half-step in the IP direction for companies with a progressive outlook.