November 17, 2008 12:00 ET

Ribbit Launches the World's First Platform for "Programmable Telephony"

BT Subsidiary's Platform Is Now Open to Developers, Integrators, and Carriers Around the World; Company Also Announces $100,000 Contest to Spur Innovation in Programmable Telephony

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - November 17, 2008) - Adobe MAX Conference -- Ribbit today announced general availability of the Ribbit developer platform, opening the doors to software developers, integrators, and carriers around the globe that are looking for ways to develop and deploy the next-generation of telecommunications services. Ribbit launched the platform today, just 4 months after their acquisition by BT, at the Adobe MAX conference. Adobe MAX is the premier venue for the next-generation Web developers that populate Ribbit's 7,500-plus community. http://developer.ribbit.com

Today's launch has implications for broad sectors of the global telephony market -- developers, integrators and carriers alike.

"Less than twelve months ago, we launched Ribbit as 'Silicon Valley's First Phone Company,'" said Ted Griggs, CEO of Ribbit. "Our vision from the start was 'programmable telephony' -- a platform that enables developers around the globe to design, deploy and monetize the next-generation of telecommunication services. Now, just four months after BT's acquisition of Ribbit, the platform is live, and we are open for business with developers, systems integrators, and yes, other carriers. And with BT at our side, we have a global footprint. The platform is now open to anyone -- small businesses, large businesses, telecommunications vendors -- that are looking for ways to innovate with next-generation, Web-based services."

The Ribbit Platform: From the Grassroots to the Cloud

The beta version of the Ribbit platform launched in the winter of 2007, and has since grown their developer community to over 7,500 members. Today, the platform boasts many features that were proposed, vetted and tested during that phase. Developers today can use the Ribbit platform to do everything that's required to bring a new communication service to market -- designing, testing, provisioning, deploying, pricing, billing, and monitoring the application, performing each of these functions in a user-friendly, Web-based, on-demand environment.

"It's the 'cloud' for the new world of Web-based telephony services," said Ribbit EVP Crick Waters. "Developers now have everything they need to make a new service business-ready. The Ribbit community helped us to design all these features into the production version of the platform. Many developers -- inside and outside the enterprise -- will benefit."

Carrier Program: "Bring Your Own Network"

The platform can also be tapped by carriers. With the Ribbit "Bring Your Own Network" (BYON) program, carriers around the globe can use the platform to tap Ribbit's growing community of developers and tap new revenue streams from applications that have already been deployed, such as Ribbit for Salesforce.

Ribbit enables individual developers, enterprises, and carriers with a "programmable communication network." What's notable here is that the "cloud nature" of Ribbit's programmable phone network can be used by third-party developers as well as carrier-partners. By extending the platform to enterprises and other carriers, Ribbit also moves BT one step closer toward delivering its 21st Century Network (21CN) around the globe.

"This is the first commercial realization of our vision of becoming the world's first programmable phone company," said Waters. "And with the 'Bring Your Own Network' program, we can further grow by enabling other carriers to become programmable phone companies as well."

Adobe MAX: Partner Innovation on Display

An array of innovative partner applications will be showcased at MAX, both in the Ribbit Booth (Booth 314) and in an engaging session presentation to be made by Ribbit Director of Developer Platform, Charles Freedman -- 3:30 pm Monday. Partner applications will include viral mobile concepts by San Francisco's leading interactive branding agency, Mekanism (www.mekanism.com), as well as a Ribbit integration into SlideRocket's (www.sliderocket.com) innovative cloud-based presentation and collaboration solution.

The Ribbit $100,000 Killer App Contest

To further accelerate innovation in application development, Ribbit has also announced a $100,000 "Killer App" contest that will award prizes for the most innovative Ribbit integrations across five general categories where 'programmable telephony' is already taking shape:

*Business Productivity
*Media, Entertainment and Marketing
*Social Networking
*Carrier Integration
*Next-Gen Innovation

Contest details can be found at: http://www.ribbit.com/killerappchallenge

"To thrive and survive in the new telephony market, we need to support innovation from the very best developers in Web-based computing," said Waters. "With a global audience reaching over a million flash developers, Adobe MAX is the best venue for this effort. We look forward to what the $100K challenge will produce from this great community."

About Ribbit

Ribbit is Silicon Valley's first phone company. Our mission is to liberate voice from devices, and integrate it into the workflow of life, both business and personal. By providing a world-class telephone carrier infrastructure and the first open platform for Internet and voice developers, we foster innovation across the entire telephony marketplace, from the development of leading-edge consumer voice services to the integration of voice with the world's best business applications.

Ribbit is headquartered in Mountain View, CA. Ribbit is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT. For more information about Ribbit, please visit www.ribbit.com.