NEW METROMESH OS RELEASE 5.1 FROM TROPOS DELIVERS NEXT-GENERATION METRO-SCALE WI-FI CAPACITY AND RELIABILITY

Unmatched Customer Experience and Real-World Deployment Data Integrated into Continuing Evolution of MetroMesh Software

SUNNYVALE, CA - March 9, 2006 -- Tropos Networks, the proven leader in delivering ubiquitous, metro-scale, Wi-Fi mesh network systems, today announced groundbreaking innovations for large Wi-Fi networks with release 5.1 of its MetroMesh OS. These software innovations give service providers and municipalities critical capacity and functionality to allow them to build and operate metro-scale Wi-Fi networks that support demanding current and future broadband applications. Release highlights include metro-scale automated channel planning and dynamic channel assignment, mesh edge rate management, support for nationwide service provider authentication systems, and instrumentation for Tropos Insight and Tropos Drive, among others.

"MetroMesh OS release 5.1 delivers the requisite system capacity to meet the needs of service provider customers worldwide, with the lowest cost per square mile for any level of system capacity and the best end-to-end reliability in the industry," said Ellen Kirk, Vice President of Marketing for Tropos Networks. "This new release embodies the expertise Tropos has gained from our unparalleled deployment experience to remain the market's leader in providing the cost-effective capacity and functionality needed to enable incremental service provider revenue streams."

Capacity Enhancements

Tropos Networks today delivers the industry's most cost-effective concurrent subscriber capacity, the total amount of bandwidth available to network users at the same time. MetroMesh OS release 5.1 further increases MetroMesh network subscriber capacity through software innovations such as metro-scale automated channel allocation and metro-optimized dynamic channel assignment. The automated channel allocation algorithm, an industry first for large-scale mesh networks, allows network operators to command MetroMesh networks to automatically develop and implement metro-scale channel allocations based on information retrieved from MetroMesh OS. Metro-optimized dynamic channel assignment, an enhancement to Tropos Networks' patented Predictive Wireless Routing Protocol (PWRP), intelligently adjusts the channel plan throughout the network in response to environmental and RF changes, mitigating interference and maximizing end-to-end throughput and concurrent subscriber capacity.

Release 5.1 delivers extensive distributed instrumentation necessary to collect data for the Tropos Insight and Tropos Drive MetroMesh optimization and operation tools. The tools distill the wide array of data gathered into actionable reports that network operators can use to optimize the network and increase concurrent subscriber capacity and reliability.

These innovations combine to boost the concurrent subscriber capacity of MetroMesh networks by 33%, to up to 20 Mbps per square mile. MetroMesh is the industry's only metro-scale mesh architecture that delivers on-going capacity expansion through software, rather than expensive hardware upgrades.

Mesh Edge Rate Management

MetroMesh OS release 5.1 includes the industry's only mesh edge rate management capability, ensuring that all users receive the appropriate levels of service. Working independently, or in conjunction with third-party bandwidth management systems that use the Tropos MetroMesh APIs, mesh edge rate management enforces bandwidth policies at the edge of the wireless network. For example, this prevents users running peer-to-peer applications, such as file sharing and gaming, from hogging network bandwidth; users can burst but cannot consume more bandwidth than their service level agreement allows. Network operators can provide a more reliable and predictable end-user experience with fairness enforced across all flows traversing the network.

Mesh edge rate management creates new service provider revenue opportunities by delivering differentiated services. Using the rate management capabilities in MetroMesh OS release 5.1, a network operator can offer multiple service levels with tiered pricing.

Nationwide Service Provider Authentication System Support

MetroMesh OS release 5.1 makes the Tropos MetroMesh architecture the first in the industry to integrate seamless mobility into the centralized authentication systems used by large network operators. Tropos' novel use of GRE tunneling and BGP routing makes the core routers used by network operators mobility aware for the first time. This allows user traffic to be securely tunneled through the Internet to a centralized access control and authentication system while enabling users to move seamlessly within and between networks with session-persistence. These capabilities are key for enabling network operators to roll out profitable nationwide or international metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh systems supporting hundreds of thousands of users.

About Tropos Networks, Inc.
Tropos Networks is the proven leader in delivering ubiquitous, metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh network systems. Our mission is to enable wireless broadband access everywhere for everyone through innovative, low-cost and simple products, software tools and services. We have deployed larger and longer-operating systems in more municipalities than any other company in our industry. Our unique expertise includes high-performance mesh software development, mesh RF engineering, metro-scale network planning, deployment and optimization, and navigating the municipal approval process. Tropos Networks is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, please visit www.tropos.com, call 408-331-6800 or write to info@tropos.com.

Tropos Networks, Tropos, MetroMesh, PWRP and Metro-Scale Mesh Networking Defined are trademarks of Tropos Networks, Inc. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holder(s).