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Nortel: Video Calls, Home Surveillance and PC-Based Communications Top Consumers Wish Lists According to Harris Interactive Stu

^{Published on 2009-09-16 06:20:35 - Market Wire}
 

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 16, 2009) - Continuing its efforts to help carriers improve subscriber loyalty and understand what communication experiences subscribers desire, Nortel(1) (OTCBB:NRTLQ) Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) today shared recent findings from a Carrier Communications Application Market Study commissioned with Harris Interactive(R).

"In today's competitive market where subscribers are faced with a number of different choices when it comes to communication services and applications, it's important for service providers to keep a close eye on what subscribers truly desire and that was Nortel's goal with this study," said Sita Lowman, Leader CVAS Marketing, Nortel. "We found that subscribers are hungry for more advanced SIP features and are willing to pay for them if they're offered in the right bundle."

"The research reinforces that consumers see value in new SIP-based applications and that Nortel's CVAS business has the solutions to help carriers deliver them," said Milton Ellis, vice president and senior consultant, Harris Interactive(C). "These findings are clear: Communications service providers must work closely with their infrastructure vendors to shore up their product and services strategies now to ensure they will be prepared to capture this pent up market demand as the global economy recovers. Nortel's CVAS portfolio addresses many of the consumer demands and desires identified in this study."

Key Findings of Global Study:

- The top four applications survey respondents desire are:

-- PC-Based Call Control, which allows users to handle calls, view call logs, manage voicemail and send and receive texts from their PC, was chosen by about 40% of respondents.

-- Home Surveillance, the ability to remotely monitor their home using wireless cameras and an Internet browser, was chosen by more than 60% of the respondents.

-- WiFi-to-Cellular Hand-off, the ability for calls to transfer between cellular and WiFi networks.

-- Video Call Management, the ability to turn a video call into a video conference, with on-board access to phone book and call routing options.

- The landline is relevant: 70% of respondents have a landline and the majority will keep it, especially if carriers provide more advanced features and enhancements, like WiFi-Cellular handoff.

- The study found that subscribers will stay loyal to their service provider if they are offered the right bundle of communication applications.

Nortel's recent product enhancements to its [ Communication Server (CS) 2000, Adaptive Application Server ] and [ CS 1500 ] products are designed to help carriers drive operational efficiencies, increase revenue potential and meet consumer subscriber demands identified in the study.

Nortel has shipped more than 115 million Carrier VoIP and Multimedia ports to more than 350 wireline and wireless carriers globally. Nortel CVAS has customer deployments in all continents with leading carriers and has been [ consistently ranked ] as the number one supplier in the carrier softswitch market since 2002. In addition, Nortel provides VoIP solutions to two thirds of IDC's worldwide listing of top 20 carriers (by revenue).

Additional resources:

- [ Nortel's Adaptive Application Engine ] allows carriers to deliver the top four applications desired by respondents. Its open APIs allow communication enablement of third party applications such as adding communication functions to a Home Surveillance application.

- [ Nortel's Adaptive Application Engine Personal Agent ] allows subscribers to manage incoming calls, check call logs over the Web and initiate communications enabled web services, such as click-to-call.

- [ Nortel's Adaptive Application Engine Personal Communicator PC Client ] allows users to manage incoming calls, check call logs and voicemails visually. Calls can be made with existing IP or legacy telephones while using multimedia services simultaneously.

- New enhancements to Nortel's [ Communication Server (CS) 2000 ] softswitch and [ Nortel's Adaptive Application Server SIP ] software engine help carriers meet consumer demands and include more than 100 new end user features.

- To listen to a podcast with Nortel and Harris Interactive(C) about the study, click [ here ].

- To download a copy of Nortel's paper about the study, visit Nortel's IP Powered Home [ microsite ].

Study Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan and South Korea by Harris Interactive on behalf of Nortel between December and January, 2009 among 2,397 respondents. Respondents qualified if they were at least 20+ years of age, have a full or part-time job, have a personal computer and have broadband internet access. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

About Nortel

Nortel delivers communications capabilities that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel's technologies are designed to help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they need it. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at [ www.nortel.com ]. For the latest Nortel news, visit [ www.nortel.com/news ].

Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as "could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different from those contemplated in forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

(1)Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.