NewStep Adds $$ and CEO

NewStep Networks Inc., a Toronto-based provider of session management convergence solutions for carriers and enterprises, has raised $9.5 million in Series C funding. Return backers include VenGrowth Private Equity Partners, BDC Venture Capital and Newbury Ventures. In other NewStep news, the company has named former Chantry Networks chief Peter Vicars as its new president and CEO.

PRESS RELEASE

NewStep Networks Inc., the market and technology leader in session management convergence solutions for carriers and enterprises, announced today that Peter N. Vicars has joined the company as president and CEO.

Over the past year, service providers have begun to deploy NewStep Network’s solutions to deliver managed and hosted fixed mobile convergence solutions to enterprises and consumers across the US and UK. The company has also announced a wide range of interoperability partners including leading handset and PBX vendors.

“The market for FMC has begun to accelerate and NewStep is transitioning from supplying the early adopters such as BT and Embarq to a broader set of service providers and enterprises worldwide,” explained Peter Carrescia, General Partner at VenGrowth Private Equity Partners. “Peter Vicars is the right person, at the right time, to take the helm at NewStep at this key stage in the company’s growth. With a strong background in telecommunications and experience growing companies of this size, we believe that he brings the right focus and expertise to continue and extend NewStep’s market leadership.”

“I am excited, NewStep has done a phenomenal job in transitioning early adopters into customers and I look forward to leading this team into the mainstream,” said Peter N. Vicars, NewStep Networks CEO. “We have the number one technology, team and partners to successfully capture additional market share and create sustainable value for our customers, partners and investors.”

NewStep also announced that it has closed a Series C round of $9.5 million from its existing investors.

Widespread FMC adoption is being driven by business and consumers requiring a more personalized and mobile communications experience. NewStep’s unique technology permits this experience to be delivered through seamlessly managing the user’s session independent from the underlying network. NewStep Networks was recently named by Network World as one of “10 Tech Start Ups that Should Matter.”

“NewStep’s solution has found broad base support with service providers and is in active customer evaluation and trials in Europe, North America and Asia,” stated Jim Glover, Investment Director at BDC Capital. “This investment will enable the company to work with customers and partners to translate these trials into market deployments in 2008.”

About Peter N. Vicars

Peter N. Vicars has extensive experience in transitioning companies from start-up mode to market leadership. Vicars most recently served as president and CEO of Chantry Networks, a company in the competitive Wireless LAN (WLAN) space, which he subsequently sold to Siemens AG. Prior to Chantry, he held CEO positions with Cayman Systems (acquired by Netopia: OTC:MTPA.PK) where he lead the company from a fringe player to a leading name in the broadband access market; Teloquent Communications (acquired by Syntellect; TSX:ESL) and Tekelec (NASDAQ:TKLC). At Tekelec Vicars directed all corporate activities of this publicly traded company, including oversight of subsidiaries in Japan, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

About NewStep Networks

NewStep Networks is an award-winning provider of seamless session management solutions based on its patented CSN platform. NewStep solutions enable enterprises and consumers to have an “any device, any place, any content” communications experience by facilitating the movement of information across all access technologies. Currently deployed and handling millions of calls per day, NewStep Networks’ platform offers a rich set of features that works with today’s technology and devices, as well as those being developed for tomorrow. For more information, visit www.newstep.com .