AnswerFirst Calls on Vyatta Network Virtualization

BELMONT, CA--(Marketwire - April 7, 2009) - Vyatta, the leader in open networking and network virtualization, today announced that AnswerFirst Communications has purchased Vyatta's award-winning routing and security software to virtualize critical components in their network. The Florida-based call center answering service needed an integrated networking solution that could securely operate in a VMware environment and chose Vyatta for its unique ability to deliver advanced routing and security without the hardware dependencies of proprietary networking gear.

AnswerFirst provides a broad range of telephony-based services to its customers, including voice mail, appointment scheduling, client care, catalog order entry, e-commerce solutions, fulfillment, technical support, and virtual offices, all delivered through its modern call-center. As AnswerFirst's business grew, the company's needs quickly outpaced the capabilities of its aging Cisco 2600 Series router. As a result, AnswerFirst began looking for an integrated routing and security solution and wondered whether it could find something that operated in virtual environments.

"I first looked at a straightforward replacement solution from Cisco, but it was expensive and didn't really fit our evolving infrastructure," said James Cass, director of information technology, AnswerFirst. "It was the ability to virtualize our routers through VMware that really sold me on Vyatta. With Vyatta software, we can do everything we did with our Cisco routers, but suddenly we have none of the limitations associated with proprietary hardware. Instead, we have much more flexibility to add functionality and we get the management and cost benefits of a virtualized network."

Vyatta runs on standard x86 hardware and can be virtualized with modern hypervisors including VMware and Xen, making it an ideal network solution in a virtualized environment. Where required, it can be deployed on separate physical systems for maximum performance or it can be deployed virtually for maximum economic and management efficiency. Vyatta has continued its commitment to virtualized networking in its latest software release that integrates both VMtools and Xen paravirtualization to ensure that Vyatta users are getting the maximum performance out of their virtual networks. Vyatta gives customers ultimate flexibility to virtualize either "horizontally," with multiple Vyatta instances sharing the same hardware system, or "vertically," with Vyatta sharing the system with Linux or Windows applications.

"Vyatta is leading the way in virtualized networking," said Kelly Herrell, CEO of Vyatta. "Once freed from the limitations of physical hardware, Vyatta's virtualized networking delivers clear economic and management benefits that the proprietary vendors just can't match. Like hundreds of other customers, AnswerFirst found that Vyatta brings the best of all worlds -- the features, performance, and support they need with the cost point and flexibility that allows them to do more with less. In today's tough economic times, proprietary networking solutions just don't add up."

About Vyatta

Vyatta builds commercially supported, open-source networking solutions that provide an alternative to over-priced, inflexible products from proprietary vendors. Our customers are smarter, better looking, and drive much nicer cars than purchasers of big-name products. Vyatta customers know that Vyatta's Linux-based router, firewall and VPN software gives them a level of control unavailable from proprietary solutions. Vyatta customers are thought leaders who recognize the benefits of flexible deployment options -- x86 hardware, blade servers, virtualization -- of freedom to integrate applications of their choice, and of the economic and performance advantages of commodity hardware and components. For more info, visit http://www.vyatta.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Andrew Evangelista Eastwick Communications 650.480.4056 andrew@eastwick.com