Eye of the Storm: Florida's VIP Realty Stays Connected With AltiGen Voice Over IP Telephone Systems Amidst Hurricane Charley's Devastating Impact

Voice Over IP Allows VIP Realty to Serve Customers and Maintain Communications When the Lights - and Phones - Go Out

FREMONT, CA Sept. 13 PR Newswire-FirstCall -- Neither rains nor winds, nor Category four storm named Charley, can disconnect callers using Voice over IP technology.  Florida's VIP Realty Group, one of the largest privately-owned full-service real estate companies in south Florida, is living -- and dialing -- proof of this.

When Hurricane Charley pummeled Florida on August 13th with 145 mile-per-hour winds and 10-foot waves, Ft. Myers-based VIP Realty was ready, thanks to VoIP from AltiGen(R) Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATGN), a leading manufacturer of next-generation IP call center solutions and IP-PBX telephone systems.  "It has always been my philosophy that you should be able to reach your real estate agent anytime, anywhere," said Charlie Ashby, VIP Realty Owner.  "This 'anytime, anyplace' philosophy became more relevant in this disaster."

Hurricane Charley snapped utility poles, leveled buildings and flooded roads in its wake. Multiple VIP Realty locations, including offices in Ft. Myers, Sanibel Island and Captiva Island, were at ground zero. In fact, the right eye wall of Charley passed over North Captiva Island and severed it into two parts, resulting in a 450 meter-wide breach.  VIP Realty lost all phone service throughout the company's eight locations when Charley struck on Friday the 13th -- except for one lone T-1 PRI line in the main Ft. Myers office.  However, since VIP Realty had a redundant, IP-based communications network that also unified the 8-location business with a combination of point to point data T-1 lines, DSL lines and point-to-point wireless, Charlie Ashby was able to shut down all phone systems right before the storm hit -- remotely while in France.  After the storm passed, Dave Michaud, VIP Realty's IT Director, was able to reroute all phone traffic from all 8 offices to the surviving T-1 line in Ft. Myers, then simply directed the appropriate voice traffic back to its original location using the Voice over IP capabilities of the AltiGen telephone system.  All calls could immediately be handled by available VIP Realty personnel or transferred directly to cellular phone supported field agents -- the total reconfiguration took about 30 minutes!

Hurricane Charley hit Friday afternoon and by the following Monday, VIP Realty was the only realty company in the area open for business 48 hours after Charley stormed through. VIP Realty was 100 percent up and running while most businesses were still without telephone service.  "While everyone was recovering, we were servicing our current and new customers because we never lost contact with our clients," said Michaud, who added the company reported a huge spike in call volume and relocation business "because we were the only real estate company available in the affected areas."

About VIP Realty 
VIP Realty Group was established on Sanibel Island, Florida in 1975 and has been an AltiGen customer since 1997. With offices in Fort Myers, Bonita and Naples, and on Sanibel and Captiva Islands, VIP has become one of the largest privately owned full-service real estate companies in the area. VIP has served Southwest Florida for over thirty years, while developing a reputation for creating and implementing marketing strategies and advanced technologies that increase business through referrals, listings, and sales and accessibility to their customers. VIP is committed to providing the best service in the real estate industry. The VIP website, company communication systems and other advanced technologies ensure that associates have all of the necessary tools to list, market and sell premiere properties, and to assist customers in finding the exact properties and locations that fit their lifestyles.

VIP is a full-service real estate company offering: VIP Title Group Services, VIP Mortgage Group Services, RELO(R) and VIP Rentals.

About AltiGen Communications
AltiGen(R) Communications, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of IP telephony and contact center systems. The company designs, manufactures and markets next generation, IP PBX telephone systems and IP contact centers that use both the Internet and the public telephone network to enable an array of applications that take advantage of the convergence of voice and data communications. AltiGen Communications products are available from authorized resellers.

AltiGen's AltiServ(TM) has been recognized for excellence with more than 40 industry awards since 1996. Deloitte & Touche(R) has named AltiGen as the 111th fastest growing company in the U.S. AltiGen Communications remains the leading manufacturer of delivered next-generation business telephony for the SMB market and is a Microsoft(R) Gold Certified ISV.

Safe Harbor Statement  
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements regarding the continued market acceptance of our Voice over IP telephone systems and call center solutions in the small to midsize marketplace, and the continued success of our new product releases. These statements reflect management's current expectation. However, actual results could differ materially as a result of unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, risks related to AltiGen's limited operating history. For a more detailed description of these and other risks and uncertainties affecting AltiGen's performance, please refer to the Company's most recent 10Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, and its 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2003. AltiGen assumes no obligation to update the forward- looking information contained in this press release.  

NOTE: 
All product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE
AltiGen Communications, Inc. 09/13/2004

CONTACT:
Erin Reasoner of Eastwick Communications, +1-650-480-4057, or erin.reasoner@eastwick.com, for AltiGen Communications

Web site:  http://www.VIPrealty.com
Web site:  http://www.altigen.com    (ATGN)

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