LONDON, April 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Industry leaders participate in the telco industry's first ever
Ethernet global interconnect demonstration

Light Reading has announced the latest details on the Global Interconnect
demonstration and conference program at Ethernet Expo: Europe 2009, May 13-14
at ExCel Conference Centre in London. COLT, Tata Communications, and
ntl:Telewest will be working together with leading vendors Alcatel-Lucent,
Cisco, Creanord, Matisse Networks, Omnitron Systems, and Spirent to present
the telco industry's first ever public demonstration of globally
interconnected Carrier Ethernet services.

Keynote speeches from Nan Chen (MEF), Alireza Mahmoodshahi (COLT), Dr.
Kamran Sistanizadeh (Reliance Globalcom), Steve Best (BT Wholesale), and
Matthew Finnie (Interoute), head a topical program of "Success Story"
presentations and educational "Think Tanks" addressing specific topics
including: converged packet optical solutions, consumer video services,
service management strategies, and application performance challenges. The
program is rounded off with the presentation of this year's Light Reading
Carrier Ethernet Awards for service providers, vendors, and the person of the
year.

"Ethernet Expo, with partners Iometrix and the MEF's support, is moving
the entire Carrier Ethernet industry and ecosystem forward with the Global
Interconnect demo," says Joseph Braue, Group Director/Senior Vice President,
Light Reading. "The response from Tier 1 carriers COLT, NTL, and Tata, and
the commitment of industry-leading vendors underline the vital significance
of this event. The power of this cooperation, combined with an impressive
list of speakers from both the telcom industry and enterprise, puts Ethernet
Expo at the very forefront of today's Carrier Ethernet revolution."

The two-day conference runs from 8:00 to 17:00 on Wednesday, May 13, and
from 8:00 to 15:00 on Thursday - ending with the prestigious Ethernet Expo
Europe Awards ceremony. Five categories will be awarded this year: two for
Ethernet Service Provider of the Year, celebrating Best Ethernet Service and
Best Product Portfolio; two for Carrier Ethernet Vendor of the Year, covering
Best Access Product and Best Infrastructure Product; and a special award for
Carrier Ethernet Person of the Year for the industry professional who has
made the greatest contribution to advance the adoption of Carrier Ethernet
services and/or technologies in Europe since last year's Ethernet Expo.

Bob Mandeville, President and Founder of Iometrix, the company organizing
the Global Interconnect demonstration, explains: "Global Interconnect will
integrate multiple demonstrations built around live, interconnected services
delivered by COLT, ntl:Telewest, and Tata Communications. They will be
working together to show that MEF-certified Carrier Ethernet services are
already spanning the globe and are fully able to meet corporate customer
expectations."

A live circuit will run from the Conference Centre to a London data
exchange, then to Frankfurt, back to London, and back to the Conference
Centre, running ongoing videoconferencing services with service quality
checks performed in real time. Videoconferencing is not only a highly
demanding interactive application in terms of bandwidth and performance, it
is also very challenging as a demonstration because poor quality of
experience is immediately visible to the viewer. For a truly unique
"world-first" demonstration, a second circuit spans the globe from London to
Los Angeles to Singapore to Chemai in India and back to London, and will be
posting key performance and management statistics on a real-time display to
demonstrate how MEF14-certified service offerings can be chained together to
create a global interconnected service that you can still rely on to perform
to MEF14 standards.

Adjoining the demonstration is the Vendor Showcase, the engine room of
Global Interconnect, offering a close-up view of the next-generation
implementations of protocols and services from multiple core and access
switch vendors working together to interoperate and create the foundations
for a new, expanded, and global service landscape.

The full program and demonstration details can be found on Light
Reading's Ethernet Expo: Europe 2009 Website: www.ethernetexpoeurope.com.
Registration for press and analysts is free.

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading
online media, research, and focused event company serving the US$3 trillion
worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for
technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the
media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's
research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most
comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis
in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20
targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and
Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as
focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives.
Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and
operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (http://techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business
technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of
technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most
respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today,
more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in
our communities created around our global face-to-face events, Interop, Web
2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network,
Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and
The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning
InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, and Wall Street &
Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services including
next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and
analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global
provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a
market capitalization of more than US$2.5 billion.

*13.3 million business decision-makers: based on number of monthly
connections

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information
distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetisation
of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve
professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from
journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists - with integrated
events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in
more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these
communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do
business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more
information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com

Contact:
    Amy Averbook
    Director of Corporate Marketing
    Light Reading
    averbook@lightreading.com
    +1-212-925-0020 x112