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FREMONT, Calif., July 26, 2004 - Actelis Networks®, a leading supplier of solutions that enable profitable, carrier-grade broadband services over local-loop copper, today announced that North Pittsburgh Systems has deployed its EFM-compliant MetaLIGHT® Ethernet-over-Copper platform to deliver Ethernet services to businesses throughout the Pittsburgh metro area. Representing an important milestone in Actelis' market leadership position, North Pittsburgh Systems is the 25th customer worldwide to deploy Actelis' EFM-compliant Ethernet-over-Copper platforms.

The IEEE unanimously approved the Ethernet-in-the-First-Mile 802.3ah standard in June of 2004. Although the standard was just recently approved by the IEEE standards board, Actelis has been shipping platforms that comply with this standard since February of 2004. Actelis' deep involvement in the standardization process allowed it to develop a compliant platform earlier, and to maintain compliance as the drafts evolved. Now that the standard has been ratified, Actelis is fully prepared to meet the expected rapid ramp-up in demand for long-reach Ethernet-over-Copper platforms from service providers who've been waiting for a finalized standard before beginning mass deployment of Ethernet services.

"Now that the standard has been ratified, service providers can immediately integrate EFM-compliant solutions into their existing networks and focus on delivering new revenue-generating services, without worrying about network interoperability issues," said Michael Howard, principal analyst, Infonetics Research. "There is a built-up demand for these services, and the ratification of the 802.3ah standard eliminates a major barrier to widespread deployment of Ethernet services."

North Pittsburgh Systems has already begun deploying Actelis' EFM-compliant Ethernet-over-Copper platform to meet the demand for Ethernet services in both its ILEC - North Pittsburgh Telephone - and its CLEC - Penn Telecom - subsidiaries. Along with meeting the demand from its existing ILEC customers, Actelis' platforms will allow Penn Telecom to expand their CLEC customer base by offering scalable high-quality, high-bandwidth Ethernet services to businesses throughout the Pittsburgh metro area that are only served by copper.

A customer for more than a year, North Pittsburgh Systems has continually looked to Actelis to help them meet their customer's demand for broadband services over copper. Prior to deploying Actelis' EFM-compliant platforms, North Pittsburgh Systems, through its Penn Telecom unit, deployed the MetaLIGHT 1500 platform to deliver DS3 services to businesses in Pittsburgh.

"For more than a year, Actelis Networks platforms have enabled us to deliver high-quality, high-bandwidth broadband services to our customers," said Al Weigand, vice president of operations, North Pittsburgh Systems. "Their platforms have allowed us to respond to customer demand for broadband services in areas where we had no access to fiber or were faced with expensive fiber builds. The ubiquitous availability of copper plant, combined with the innovative Actelis technology, has given us a competitive edge in the broadband market. With Actelis' EFM-compliant Ethernet-over-Copper platforms, we have the capability to quickly deliver the exact amount of bandwidth that the customer desires for either Internet access or wide-area network deployments while keeping our CAPEX to a minimum."

Available in point-to-point or point-to-multipoint configurations, Actelis' MetaLIGHT Ethernet-over-Copper platforms allow service providers to deliver up to 70 Mbps of high-quality Ethernet services to customers or locations over the existing copper plant. Designed to comply with the IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) standard, they can be quickly and seamlessly integrated into service provider networks. Additionally, MetaLIGHT platforms are powered with Actelis' patent-pending MetaLOOP® technology, which includes features such as cross talk cancellation (CTC), cross-talk management (CTM) and cut-line protection, among others. This technology allows Actelis' platforms to provide far better rate, reach and reliability than other Ethernet-over-Copper solutions. With the ability to provide high-quality bandwidth to distances beyond 18,000 feet/5.5km, Actelis' platforms are ideal to support a wide range of broadband applications including transparent LAN services, LAN interconnection, voice and video over IP. They are also well suited to backhaul bandwidth to DSLAMs/NGDLCs, WiFi and cellular base stations.