Acme Packet Provides Fourth Quarter Financial Update Company to Host Conference Call at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time Today

BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 3, 2012-- Acme Packet® (NASDAQ: APKT), the leader in session delivery network solutions, today provided a financial update for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. The Company will release final financial results for the fourth quarter on Thursday, February 2, 2012 after the market closes.

Based on preliminary fourth quarter estimates which are subject to change, the Company expects:

• Total revenues to range between $84 million to $86 million.
• GAAP gross margin to be approximately 82%.
• Non-GAAP¹ gross margin to be approximately 83%.
• Earnings per share on a GAAP basis to range between $0.16 and $0.18.
• Earnings per share on a non-GAAP¹ basis to range between $0.26 and $0.28.

Based on preliminary full year estimates which are subject to change, the Company expects:

• Total revenues for 2011 to range between $308 million and $310 million compared to its earlier outlook of between $315 million and $320 million.
• Earnings per share on a GAAP basis for 2011 to range between $0.66 and $0.68, compared to its earlier outlook of between $0.78 and $0.82.
• Earnings per share on a non-GAAP¹ basis for 2011 to range between $1.03 and $1.05, compared to its earlier outlook of between $1.14 and $1.18.
• Cash and cash equivalents to be approximately $372 million, compared to $338 million at the end of the third quarter.

“Our results were impacted by uncertainty in the North American service provider market,” said Andy Ory, President and Chief Executive Officer of Acme Packet, Inc. “Outside of the North American service provider market, Acme Packet continued to perform very well – particularly in our enterprise business as well as in our Europe and Latin America businesses. Looking ahead, we believe we are very well positioned to leverage the broad, multi-year, secular growth drivers associated with the global transition from TDM to IP for real time communications like voice and video.”

“Heading into 2012, we are very focused on improving our visibility and the level of predictability in the business in the backdrop of the current North American service provider capital expenditure environment,” said Peter J. Minihane, Chief Financial Officer of Acme Packet, Inc.

Company to Host Live Conference Call

The Company’s management team will host a live conference call at 5:00 p.m. eastern time today to discuss today’s announcement. The conference call may be accessed in the United States by dialing 1.800.288.8967 and using access code “APKT”. The conference call may be accessed outside of the United States by dialing +612.332.0630 and using access code “APKT”. The conference call will be simultaneously webcast on the Company’s investor relations website, which can be accessed at http://www.ir.acmepacket.com. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the call by dialing 1.800.475.6701 or +1.320.365.3844 and using access code 231791 or by accessing the webcast replay on the Company’s investor relations website.

About Acme Packet

Acme Packet (NASDAQ: APKT), the leader in session delivery network solutions, enables the trusted, first-class delivery of next-generation voice, data and unified communications services and applications across IP networks. Our Net-Net product family fulfills demanding security, service assurance and regulatory requirements in service provider, enterprise and contact center networks. Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, Acme Packet designs and manufactures its products in the USA, selling them through over 200 reseller partners worldwide. More than 1,525 customers in 107 countries have deployed over 14,000 Acme Packet systems, including 90 of the top 100 service providers and 36 of the Fortune 100. For more information visit http://www.acmepacket.com.