Aria Networks, a leading provider of optimisation and planning software solutions for Next-Generation Networks (NGN) today announced the introduction of iForecast, an intelligent business analytics and decision-support solution for the Telecoms industry.

Predicting the future is an essential part of running any business. But in the data-rich world of Telecoms, the volume and variety of information available overwhelms conventional data analysis techniques. As a result, Telecoms companies can fail to uncover critical patterns in their data, resulting in incorrect and expensive decisions on anything from network investment to customer retention programs.

Launched today, Aria Networks’ iForecast product, is set to revolutionise business decision-making in Telecoms by applying artificial intelligence techniques to large and complex data sets, revealing – and explaining – hidden insights.

iForecast is an intelligent and flexible business analytics and decision-support software product that has been developed specifically for the telecommunications industry. iForecast exploits the vast amount of data in Telecoms companies to provide accurate and rapid forecasting of NGN infrastructures, the customer services that operate over these NGNs, and the capital and operational costs of operating NGNs and delivering services.

“Executive management in telecoms is demanding increased confidence and accuracy in its investment and strategic decisions in all parts of their business,” said Tony Fallows, CEO of Aria Networks. “iForecast offers the accurate and flexible business analytics and decision-support capability that enable them to fine-tune their decisions and at the same time give full insight in to the factors that are influencing their business. iForecast not only provides insight in to what is happening, but also how and why.”

iForecast is already in use for complex forecasting scenarios in world-class Telecoms companies, and is built using an Intelligent Forecasting Engine that has been in use for several years in the life-sciences and pharmaceutical industries by world leaders such as GlaxoSmithKline (LONDON: GSK) and Celera Diagnostics (NASDAQ: CRA), to predict complex disease development and the impact of introducing new drugs.

iForecast uses leading artificial-intelligence techniques to determine all patterns, relationships and correlations in the data, ensuring it is more accurate than traditional solutions that often use over-simplistic trend-based forecasting, which can lead to large errors, particularly in times of rapid change or economic turmoil. iForecast also uses techniques to reduce the impact of noisy and spurious data to build robust models that are less prone to error than competitive solutions.

iForecast can be used as a standalone application or can be integrated with Aria’s iVNT suite of planning and optimisation products. iForecast is easy to use and automatically generates reusable models based on the information presented to it.

Aria Networks, a leading provider of planning solutions for Next Generation Networks (NGNs), today announce an OEM agreement with Amdocs (NYSE: DOX).

This agreement will enable Aria’s iVNT product line to be fully integrated with Planning Engine, a part of the Amdocs Operational Support Systems (OSS) portfolio. Amdocs will market, distribute and support the integrated solution to its partners and telecommunications customers around the world.

“With the introduction of Aria’s iVNT product into the Amdocs planning solution, service providers will be able to more finely tune their capacity requirements, so that they can optimize their capital expenditure (CAPEX), and improve their operational efficiency in deploying and operating Next Generation Networks” said Charlie Born, Vice-President at Amdocs.

Next Generation Networks (NGNs) are an important part of most telecoms companies’ strategies, but the planning of these networks is complex, time-consuming, and requires highly skilled staff. Amdocs will use Aria’s iVNT product to enable their customers to reduce the complexity and time it takes to plan next-generation networks and services. The Amdocs planning solution will help Service Providers meet their network capacity requirements without overbuilding the network allowing them to more proactively manage their infrastructure investment.

Aria’s iVNT is an intelligent and flexible, multi-technology planning suite that enables Amdocs to offer its customers an advanced set of OSS planning capabilities. It provides planning and design support for technologies including IP, MPLS-TE, WDM, GMPLS, Ethernet and VPNs and has advanced multi-layer traffic-engineering and path computation capabilities.

“Amdocs has a formidable reputation in the OSS market and we are excited about the possibilities the Amdocs relationship brings,” said Tony Fallows, Aria’s CEO. “This agreement means that service providers can fully benefit from our unique product and business strategy because iVNT is now part of a complete OSS solution.”

Aria Networks, a leading provider of optimisation, planning and advanced path computation solutions for Next-Generation Networks (NGN) today announce the industry’s first multiprocessor-based path computation capabilities.

Path computation enables service paths to be established across NGNs and is a complex but important part of delivering services, such as video-on-demand, VPNs and VoIP.  When services are required to meet a myriad of different criteria, for example, cost, capacity, reliability and quality-of-service, “multi constraint-based” path computation establishes the optimal service paths to meet the customer’s needs. Aria Networks is the world-leader in multi constraint-based path computation and is now extending that lead with the introduction of multiprocessor support.

NGNs and services being deployed by Telecom companies around the world are growing rapidly. NGNs transport millions of complex service paths on network infrastructures that comprise inter-connected equipment at tens of thousands of locations. Due to the challenges of scalable path computation, Telecoms companies historically compromised on the number of constraints that define and influence a service, resulting in sub-optimal networks and services. Telecoms companies, equipment vendors and OSS vendors require scalable, carrier-grade path-computation that is capable of establishing one or many service paths in a fraction of a second.

“Multiprocessor-based path computation provides the scale, performance and fault-tolerance required to deploy complex point-to-point and multipoint services for traffic-engineered packet and optical networks,” said Dr Jay Perrett, VP of R&D at Aria Networks. “With the power of Aria’s multiprocessor-based path computation Telecoms companies can now define each and every service with many constraints and rapidly and accurately compute complex service paths as well as solve multi-layer capacity planning and optimisations in a time-efficient manner.”

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is currently developing Path Computation Element (PCE), a standard for a path computation architecture and implementation, reflecting the growing importance of path computation to Telecoms Companies.

Aria’s unique artificial intelligence-based iVNT software architecture lends itself well to distributing path-computation capabilities across an unlimited number of processors. This capability will ship with Aria’s latest iVNT MPLS-TE optimisation, planning, and path computation software, and will be available next quarter in all other iVNT products. iVNT is available for Windows, Linux and Solaris operating systems and can be deployed as a standalone software suite or embedded in Network Management Systems (NMS), Operational Support Systems (OSS), or Path Computation Elements (PCE) of third parties using a variety of robust interfaces.

Aria Networks, a leading provider of planning and optimisation solutions for Next-Generation Networks today announce it has secured an investment of £2Million ($4Million) from Seraphim Capital, a £30Million ($60Million) venture capital fund based in London, England.

“We are pleased to have completed this round of investment”, said Tony Fallows CEO of Aria Networks. “Over the last year we have made significant progress with our customers and partners around the world. With Seraphim’s backing, we now have the capability to further execute on our unique technology and business strategy”.

Aria’s technology enables telecoms companies to design, plan, and optimise their Next-Generation Networks. Using its iVNT software suite, Aria is capable of doing in minutes what it takes large teams of engineers and planners months to achieve. Furthermore, the functionality provided by Aria enables telecom operators to economically build their network and to reliably deliver the myriad of services they offer.

Aria’s technology is highly disruptive and has the capability to fundamentally change the economics of a telecom operator’s business.

“Aria is an outstanding investment opportunity”, said Mark Boggatt, Investment Director at Seraphim Capital. “Aria has a perfect blend of world-class technology and an exceptional management team. The Company has already demonstrated its ability to work with some of the world’s leading telecoms companies and vendors and with this injection of funds we believe the company will enter a phase of rapid growth.”

Eddie Harding of ICON Corporate Finance who advised Aria’s board on the deal said “Aria has a unique product offering for the huge and fast growing OSS market, and in a very short period of time has won a number of top tier reference customers in the sector. This funding from Seraphim will help the Company to accelerate its current growth path and become a truly global technology offering.”

For further information please contact:

Seraphim Capital:

Mark Boggett

e: mark@seraphimcapital.co.uk

tel: 020 7089 2318

www.seraphimcapital.co.uk

Aria Networks:

Tony Fallows

e: tony.fallows@aria-networks.com

tel: +44 (0) 1249 665923

www.aria-networks.com

About Seraphim Capital

Seraphim is a consortium of Business Angel networks and corporate venturers across the UK which have joined forces to raise £10m of private investment, with £20m of UK Government backing, to manage one of the UK’s new Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF). The ECF programme is a new multi-million pound scheme set up by the UK Government to boost investment in fast growing small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. Seraphim was the first ECF to launch in September 2006.

Seraphim’s partners include Business Angel networks from across the country including London Business Angels, Pi Capital, Advantage Business Angels, Entrust and Archangels. The corporate venturers involved are General Capital Venture Finance, The Summit Group and GLE. An exciting dimension to the Fund consortium is the addition of funding from Focus Enterprises a US investment bank and New Vantage Group one of the leading US Angel Groups. Seraphim has completed 5 deals valued at £6.5m in the year since launch.

Seraphim won the Most Exciting New Entrant to The Market Award at the 2006 British Business Angel Association’s Awards.

For more information: www.seraphimcapital.co.uk

About Aria Networks Limited

Aria Networks develops and markets Operational Support System (OSS) software that enables telecoms companies to plan, design and optimise their converging Next-Generation Networks. Aria Networks was established in England in 2005 by leaders in the development of telecommunications technologies and Artificial-Intelligence (AI) software.

Aria Networks, a leading provider of Intelligent Software solutions for planning of Next Generation Networks (NGNs), today announce that it has developed iVNT (intelligent Virtual Network Topology) software with KDDI R&D Laboratories Inc. of Japan for planning and designing of transparent optical networks.

Aria Networks’ developed its iVNT-Optical product to provide flexible and extensible traffic engineering and path computation capabilities for transparent optical mesh networks based on wavelength switching and GMPLS (Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching), and to quickly and easily integrate into other operational support systems.

iVNT offers advanced planning and optimization of networks and services and enables rapid and accurate planning of complicated transparent optical mesh networks ensuring the network can meet future service demands, deliver exceptional quality of service, and exceed required service levels.

“KDDI R&D Laboratories Inc., recognises that for planning of transparent optical mesh networks, multi-constraint-based path computation and planning tools are key elements to process many simultaneous parameters and handle the complex issues of optical constraints and lambda continuity. Furthermore, the integration of control and management together with sophisticated planning and activation systems is mandatory in the future network operation.” said Tomohiro Otani, a senior Manager at KDDI Lab. “We are very impressed with iVNT’s capabilities, and believe it has the intelligence to cope with all of the complexities of planning transparent optical networks to allow us to deploy them effectively and efficiently and to easily integrate into other operational support systems in the future.”

“Transparent optical networks with mesh architectures and dynamic control/management offer the potential to telecoms carriers to reduce equipment and operational costs, better leverage their network assets, and improve the availability of services to their customers,” said Tony Fallows, CEO of Aria Networks. “These business benefits can be realised by using iVNT-Optical to reduce the time, cost, and complexity of planning and operating transparent optical networks.

iVNT-Optical is a part of Aria Networks’ family of iVNT products providing sophisticated path computation and network planning solutions.

Red Herring today announced that Aria Networks was named a Finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.

“This year’s impressive list of submissions from companies demonstrates Europe’s growing role as a major center of innovation in the global technology sector,” said Red Herring Editor-in-Chief Joel Dreyfuss. “The exceptional accomplishments of European technology startups and entrepreneurs are a testament to the rapid advancements being made in building the European innovation ecosystem.”

Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.

Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development.

Red Herring will honor the Red Herring 100 Europe Finalist companies at its Red Herring Europe 2008 event. Scheduled for April 14-16, at the Westin Dragonara Resort, this intimate, three-day event is themed “The Pursuit of Disruption” and will explore how European firms are leading the charge in many technology sectors, gaining the competitive advantage, and driving entrepreneurial success in ways that create business opportunities for challengers and incumbents alike.

Aria Networks, a leading provider of network planning and path computation solutions for Next Generation Networks (NGNs) and Marben Products, an established provider of portable protocol suites for the control and management planes of NGNs, demonstrated that Ethernet Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) networks can be controlled using a combination of a GMPLS-based intelligent control plane and Path Computation Element (PCE) route computation servers, at MPLS & Ethernet World Congress 2008 in Paris.

The demonstration used Aria’s intelligent Virtual Network Topology (iVNT), the industry’s most advanced network planning and path computation software suite. Marben Products’ iVNT-enabled PCE platform utilises Marben Products’ implementation of the Internet Engineering Task Force’s (IETF) PCE Protocol (PCEP) to provide rapid planning and activation of PBT networks and Ethernet services through their GMPLS-based control plane. Ensuring a Carrier Ethernet network can meet today’s service demands, deliver exceptional quality of service, and exceed required service-levels requires the flexibility to compute complex and inter-dependent paths and to dynamically establish connections through the network. Aria and Marben-Products demonstrated real-time path computation of Ethernet service requests and showed the implementation of a variety of IETF standards-based PCE capabilities, including the ability to fulfill many Ethernet service requests concurrently.

“PBT is a connection-oriented, packet-switching technology that enables wide-scale deployment of Ethernet Switched Paths (ESPs) as a deterministic transport mechanism, but establishing Ethernet services on PBT networks relies on instructions from management systems to set-up the paths. So it is a natural fit that PBT is controlled by the IETF’s PCE, as PCE defines a framework for path-computation to be performed by an external system,” said Daniel King, Vice President at Aria Networks. “Combining iVNT’s path-computation capabilities with Marben Products’ PCE platform enables the Ethernet PBT network and services to be managed with an unprecedented level of sophistication and control.”

iVNT is an advanced and powerful solution suite for designing, planning, and operating NGNs and includes support for Ethernet-PBT, MPLS-TE, IP, GMPLS, WDM and VPN technologies.

“The model we demonstrated with Marben Products in Paris using Ethernet PBT is one we see increasing interest in from telecoms companies around the world,” said Tony Fallows, CEO of Aria Networks. “NGNs are not built using only Ethernet technologies and the model we demonstrated with Marben Products is also demonstrable for other transport technologies such as MPLS and GMPLS, leveraging other modules in the iVNT suite.”

Aria Networks, a leading provider of planning solutions for NGNs today announces that it has secured a third-round of private equity funding. “This is an important milestone for the company”, said Tony Fallows, Aria’s CEO, “we can continue to invest in the sales opportunities we have with major telecoms companies, and expand our R&D team. We can also provide assurances to our customers that Aria Networks is a viable, long-term partner.”