Press Release

September 25, 2003 - Pittsburgh, PA — Laurel Networks, Inc., the first provider of high-performance service edge routers, today announced that the company has been selected as a 2003 Comet award winner by Communication Systems Design magazine.

Comet award recipients are chosen by editors of Communication Systems Design, EE Times and CommsDesign.com. Award winners share the vision, focus, technology leadership and risk-taking skills required to become a leader in the communications industry.

"Laurel Networks has become a key player in the edge router market," said Patrick Mannion, editor-in-chief of Communication Systems Design magazine. "In the past year, the company has added significant functionality to its flagship ST200 Service Edge Router, acquired multiple service provider customers and forged strategic partnerships with key vendors."

"Since Laurel's inception, we've focused on delivering a new class of product to enable scalable services at the edge of carrier IP/MPLS networks," said Atul Bansal, president and CEO of Laurel Networks. "This award further validates our success at making this vision a reality, as service providers across the globe are using our ST200 to offer next-generation broadband services, advanced IP VPN services and more."

About the ST200 Service Edge Router
The ST200 was designed from the ground up to create profitable data services at the edge of an IP/MPLS backbone network. With a distributed, edge-optimized architecture combining Internet class routing, full port-by-port multi-service capabilities and a sophisticated service management infrastructure, the ST200 delivers services with unmatched performance, scalability and flexibility to support current and future service provider requirements.

About Communication Systems Design
Communication Systems Design (www.commsdesign.com) is the magazine for engineers and managers involved in the design and development of communications systems and equipment. The magazine focuses on the leading-edge wired, optical and wireless technologies employed in the development of personal, home/soho, enterprise, and infrastructure systems and equipment. With a qualified circulation of 30,000 communications engineers and managers, Communication Systems Design is published by CMP Media LLC, a leading high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum - the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide.

About Laurel Networks
Laurel Networks is leading the creation of The New Service Delivery Architecture to enable profitable delivery of data and IP services at the edge of carrier IP/MPLS networks. Laurel's service edge routers and service management software are evolving carrier architectures from multiple data networks to a single packet-switched architecture with minimal capital investment. Combining carrier-class routing, data switching, advanced QoS and high availability, Laurel service edge routers support both routed and switched services. This unmatched service agility allows carriers to evolve their service portfolio to meet changing market requirements. Laurel Networks was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.laurelnetworks.com.