China Telecom Picks Riverstone

BEIJING -- Riverstone Networks,(Pink Sheets:RSTN) today announced that the Wuhan Branch of China Telecom, the country's largest fixed-line service provider, has deployed Riverstone's RS 3000 and RS 8000 Ethernet routers to link its existing ATM and Ethernet networks. China Telecom selected Riverstone based on its unique ability to interoperate with both the legacy ATM and more modern Metro Ethernet equipment within the Wuhan branch.

Using the Riverstone routers, the Wuhan branch is able to leverage its investment in its legacy transport network while moving toward a more economical, Ethernet network. In addition, Riverstone's ATM and Ethernet access interfaces allow the Wuhan branch to continue to provide its existing enterprise customers with the same service level agreements (SLAs) and quality of service (QoS) that they currently enjoy without any changes to their networks.

The Wuhan branch will initially use Riverstone's Ethernet solutions to provide high-speed leased line services, including Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), to its enterprise data customers. Because Riverstone's product line is optimized for MPLS, the Wuhan branch will also be able to utilize the solution to provide any MPLS service offerings it chooses to add going forward.

"With the explosive growth of ADSL, Voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing and other services, we needed a scalable, cost-effective infrastructure that could not only deliver greater bandwidth, but that would allow us to converge all these services onto a single infrastructure as the network evolves," said Chuanhai Li, Chief Engineer of China Telecom Wuhan Branch Company. "By evolving our ATM networks to metro Ethernet, we gain greater and more flexible bandwidth upon which we can deliver a variety of services."

Riverstone Networks Inc.

China Telecommunications Corp.