Sonus Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONS), a global leader in secure and intelligent cloud communications, today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017.

"We are pleased with our first quarter 2017 financial results, which were slightly better than our previously provided guidance," said Ray Dolan, president and chief executive officer. "We continue to make good progress on our technology investments, with many new products released this past quarter coupled with several strategic customer wins."

"Unlike many of our competitors, Sonus Networks is investing in the real-time communications security market, catering to both service providers and enterprises. We believe that this focus will result in a unique security offering, which leverages our deep experience in SIP," continued Dolan.

Technology and Customer Highlights

• Introduced Sonus Session Border Controller Software edition Lite (SBC SWe Lite). Sonus' newest SBC is optimized for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), providing a virtual Customer Premise Equipment (vCPE) option for security and interworking of Skype for Business and other Unified Communications (UC) deployments that require an optimized, small resource footprint.
• Introduced a cloud-native version of its Diameter Signaling Controller Software edition (DSC SWe). The cloud-native DSC SWe provides signaling for both Diameter and SS7 STP deployments, enabling an easy transition from hardware-based signaling equipment to modernized network function virtualization (NFV) architectures.
• Introduced a new addition to its mobility suite: LTE Calling. This new capability is offered in conjunction with Sonus' Mobile Client, Virtual Mobile Core and SBC SWe, allowing Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) to decrease costs and increase subscriber satisfaction.
• Telegate, a leading telecom solutions provider in Asia-Pacific region, selected the Sonus SBC SWe to secure and control its peering network.
• Korea Telecom, the largest tier one service provider in South Korea, selected the DSC 8000 as the foundation for its signaling network.

Partnership Highlights

• Sonus and Palo Alto Networks teamed together to deliver advanced mobile network protections from cyber threats targeting rich communication services. The new architecture is designed to mitigate the impacts of rogue endpoint devices and erroneous IP traffic crossing 4G-LTE mobile networks.
• Sonus is now partnering with Substentio to offer a cloud based Lawful Intercept Solution.

Management Comments and Outlook
"We had the third consecutive quarter of a book-to-bill ratio of greater than one, and maintain a healthy revenue backlog. We expect our first half 2017 revenue will be approximately $107 million, with approximately $54 million in our second quarter. We expect a GAAP loss per share of $0.25 and a non-GAAP loss per share of $0.101 in our second quarter," said Dolan.

Dolan continued, "Looking forward to fiscal 2017, we maintain our previously provided guidance of flat to low single digit revenue growth as compared to fiscal 2016. We expect a GAAP loss per share of $0.25 and maintain our outlook for non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.261 for fiscal 2017."

Susan Villare, interim chief financial officer, commented, "In our first quarter of 2017, we exceeded our February 2017 guidance for both revenue and EPS. Our flagship SBC 7000 and SBC 5000 both performed well, and product revenue from these products was $12.9 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared to $12.5 million in our fourth quarter of 2016. We generated $3.6 million of cash from operating activities in our first quarter of 2017 and ended the quarter with cash and investments of $128.8 million."

Stock Buyback ProgramSince the inception of the stock buyback program in July 2013, the Company has repurchased a total of 6.6 million shares at an average price of $14.32, for a total of $94.6 million as of March 31, 2017. As of March 31, 2017, there were 49.3 million shares of the Company's common stock outstanding. Under the current stock buyback program, the Company is authorized to repurchase up to an additional $5.4 million of the Company's common stock. The Company did not repurchase any shares in the first quarter of 2017.

About Sonus Networks|
Sonus brings intelligence and security to real-time communications. By helping the world embrace the next generation of cloud-based SIP and 4G/LTE solutions, Sonus enables and secures latency-sensitive, mission critical traffic for VoIP, video, instant messaging and online collaboration. With Sonus, enterprises can give priority to real-time communications based on smart business rules while service providers can offer reliable, comprehensive and secure on-demand network services to their customers. With solutions deployed in more than 100 countries and nearly two decades of experience, Sonus offers a complete portfolio of hardware-based and virtualized session border controllers (SBCs), diameter signaling controllers (DSCs), policy/routing servers, network intelligence applications, media and signaling gateways and network analytics tools. For more information, visit www.sonus.net