December 8, 2003, Irving, Texas — NEC America, Inc. (NEC), one of the top three providers of customer premise communications systems in North America, has been awarded Product of the Year for the NEAX® 2000 IPS-DMR communications platform, a remote component for the company’s NEAX 2000 IPS and NEAX IPS-DM mid-range VoIP systems.

The 2003 Product of the Year announcement appears in this month’s issue of Communications Convergence magazine.

“NEC’s robust remote office platform goes beyond industry standards in delivering remote office survivability,” said Ruthann Fisher, publisher of Communications Convergence magazine. “As VoIP’s popularity grows, NEC’s IPS-DMR is a timely answer to market demands.”

With VoIP solutions gaining significant traction among businesses, industry experts also point to NEC’s IP survivability capabilities.

"NEC America has been at the forefront of developing survivable IP telephony solutions, and its failover resiliency options rank among the best in the industry," said Allan Sulkin, founder and president of TEQConsult Group. "NEC’s award-winning capabilities are particularly well-suited for industries such as healthcare, banking and hospitality which rely heavily on the availability of voice systems for critical or emergency services."

Introduced in July, NEC’s NEAX 2000 IPS-DMR delivers critical remote survivability functions that automatically connect users to the public network should the IP network connection with the central site be interrupted. The DMR essentially converts a remote office to a standalone system until the IP network is restored.

“This award is further testament to our commitment to developing systems that bolster enterprise voice system reliability,” said Michael Rosen, general manager of NEC America’s Marketing and Sales Support Division. “We are delighted to receive this recognition from such a reputable source.”

Note: According to 2Q03 “InfoTrack for Enterprise Communications” market report, NEC is listed as the third leading provider of combined CPE line shipments.