SCOPE Press Release

SCOPE Alliance Publishes Carrier Grade Linux™ Operating System Profile, the Second Significant Step in the Framework for COTS-based Carrier Grade Base Platform

The SCOPE Alliance, close on the heels of its ATCA profile, publishes its Carrier Grade Linux Operating System profile on schedule as committed at its launch on January 18, 2006

Piscataway, NJ - June 29, 2006 - The SCOPE Alliance, an association of leading Network Equipment Providers (NEPs), has published the Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) Operating System profile.

The CGL profile reflects the underlying philosophy and layered architectural approach for a Linux Operating System used in Carrier Grade Base Platforms by NEPs when creating Control and Service Plane Network Elements. The CGL profile builds on the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) CGL Requirements Definition version 3.2 (CGL 3.2). The profile describes a subset of the mandatory CGL 3.2 features and prioritizes the CGL 3.2 “roadmap” items that SCOPE deems necessary to support Carrier Grade Base Platforms (CGBP) for NEPs. SCOPE intends to analyze NEP requirements and extend the Carrier Grade Linux™ Operating System Profile with additional features required by NEPs. The outcome of this analysis will be published in an upcoming version of the SCOPE Linux profile.

The SCOPE Alliance has to date published two of the scheduled profiles, ATCA profile and CGL profile, continuing its mission and commitment to provide leadership to the Carrier Grade Base Platform ecosystem.

Magnus Karlson, member of the SCOPE Alliance Board and the Ericsson representative, says: “A CGL distribution with this prioritized functionality and roadmap will lead to increased use by NEPs and ISVs. This will in turn result in accelerated feature availability, meaning it is more likely to be utilized by the world's leading NEPs, such as Ericsson, when developing platforms for network elements. Publishing the profile as scheduled is further proof that the world’s leading NEPs are serious about using the SCOPE architecture in their control-plane products.”

“Network equipment providers are increasingly using Carrier Grade Linux as a fundamental component in their product designs,” said Stuart Cohen, CEO of OSDL. “We welcome the SCOPE Alliance’s Carrier Grade Linux profile and expect it to identify important issues specific to NEPs deploying Linux. OSDL will use the the SCOPE CGL profile to help develop future revisions to OSDL’s CGL specifications.”

The Linux profile is available immediately and interested parties may view and download this paper at the "Documents" area of the SCOPE Alliance website www.scope-alliance.org.

About SCOPE Alliance
The SCOPE Alliance is an association of Network Equipment Providers aimed at accelerating the deployment of Carrier Grade Base Platforms for service provider applications. Its mission is to enable and promote the availability of open Carrier Grade Base Platforms based on Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware & software building blocks, and to promote interoperability to better serve Service Providers and consumers.

For more information about the SCOPE Alliance, visit: www.SCOPE-Alliance.org.