THE MPLS FORUM ELECTS SEVEN NETWORKING INDUSTRY LEADERS TO ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FREMONT, Calif., October 4, 2000 - The MPLS Forum, an industry-wide association of leading networking and telecommunication companies focused on accelerating the deployment of multi-vendor MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks and associated applications, today announced the election results for its new board of directors, replacing the interim board that has served the Forum since its inception six months ago. The new board of directors, as elected by the Forum's member companies, includes:

• Mr. David Drury (Forum President & Chairman) of Marconi
• Mr. Rick Wilder (Forum Vice Chairman & Secretary) of BroadBand Office
• Mr. Andrew Malis (Forum Vice President of Technology) of Vivace Networks
• Mr. Robert Newcomb (Forum Vice President of Marketing) of Ennovate Networks
• Mr. Tom Walsh (Forum Treasurer) of Lucent Technologies
• Mr. Sam Halabi (Forum Board member) of Extreme Networks
• Mr. Vijay Aggarwal (Forum Board member) of Gotham Networks

"The MPLS Forum has made considerable progress in a very short amount of time, and has quadrupled its membership to more than 70 member companies within just six months," said David Drury, president and chairman of The MPLS Forum. "As the Forum continues to gain momentum within the industry, we will continue focusing on the successful deployment of MPLS by defining capability sets, outlining deployment scenarios, championing interoperability initiatives and continuing educational outreach programs."

The first course of action for the new board was to review the Forum's mission. This review resulted in a slight modification to the Forum's mission statement to place a stronger emphasis on "multi-vendor MPLS networks" rather than "MPLS technologies". In the end, the Forum members want to facilitate the deployment of MPLS networks that deliver MPLS-enabled services and applications generating revenue opportunities for network service providers and carriers.

About The MPLS Forum

The MPLS Forum is an industry-wide association of leading networking and telecommunications companies focused on advancing the deployment of multi-vendor MPLS networks and associated applications. The Forum will achieve this through interoperability initiatives, implementation agreements, and educational programs. The founding members of the Forum include: Broadband Office, Data Connection Ltd, Ennovate Networks, George Mason University Advanced Internet Lab, GlobeSpan, NetPlane Systems (acquired by Conexant), Integral Access, Inverness Systems (acquired by Virata), Nokia, Lucent Technologies, Marconi plc, Qwest Communications, Telcordia Technologies, Tenor Networks, Valiant Networks, and Vivace Networks. .

For more information about The MPLS Forum, please contact Alexa Morris, MPLS Forum Executive Director, at (510) 608-5914 or via e-mail at amorris@mplsforum.org. Additional information regarding Forum membership and the Forum's mission is available online at http://www.mplsforum.org/.

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