Fusion Communications Corporation has received an order from NTT Data Corporation to provide IP telephony services for a new network system that NTT Data will build for Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. The new phone network that NTT Data is building will combine voice and data communications and will utilize Fusion's IP telephone services. The IP system will first be implemented next spring and Tokyo Gas plans to complete the switchover by June 2004, installing IP phones at all of its regional offices (in approximately 100 locations).

With the implementation of this new IP telephone system, Fusion will provide Tokyo Gas with FUSION IP-Phone service as well as FUSION IP-Centrex service to supply added value. This will be the first time for a large corporation in Japan with over 10,000 telephone terminals to bypass a telephone exchange and rely completely on an IP phone network. By using FUSION IP-Centrex service, Tokyo Gas will not need a PBX (private branch exchange) switch, greatly reducing the costs that are associated with PBX, which have been a major portion of the company's internal network costs.

FUSION IP-Centrex provides such functions as internal call forwarding, call waiting, speed dial, and three-way calling, all run on the software side by a subscriber IP soft switch (Class 5 telephony switch function) on Fusion's IP network. Unlike previous IP Centrex services, which use an IP-PBX housed at the telecommunications carrier, FUSION IP-Centrex makes it possible to have the subscriber switch located on the network--the first service of its kind in Japan. The only costs are the FUSION IP-Centrex usage fees per phone, with none of the maintenance or operation costs that are associated with PBX systems, not to mention the high cost of the PBX switch itself.

FUSION IP-Centrex provides software functions on the network side, making it flexible and inexpensive to add functionality or upgrade to new versions. It is also easy for individual managers within the company to set phone numbers or functions via the Web. Use of SIP provides superb connectivity to CRM, groupware, and other existing Web-based managerial applications. NextGen, Inc. developed the IP Centrex functions. NextGen is an engineering firm that develops and supplies added-value services that run on next-generation IP networks. Fusion and NextGen will continue to cooperate in the future to develop new services for IP networks.

With this contract to provide high-reliability IP phone services, Fusion is working hard to capture the corporate IP telephone market.