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Nortel: Nortel Raises the Bar in Carrier VoIP Softswitch Market at Supercomm 2009

^{Published on 2009-10-21 06:19:04 - Market Wire}
 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--(Marketwire - Oct. 21, 2009) - Solidifying its market-leading position in the carrier VoIP and Softswitch market and continuing its drive to help service providers boost network efficiencies, lower total cost of ownership and reduce subscriber churn, Nortel(1) (OTCBB:NRTLQ) Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) unveiled the latest enhancements of its state-of-the art [ Communication Server 2000 ] (CS 2000) carrier IP softswitch at the [ Supercomm ](2) 2009 tradeshow.

Nortel CVAS has [ consistently ranked ] as the number one supplier in the carrier VoIP market since 2002. This success is the result of proven and leading-edge VoIP solutions: Business voice and multimedia solution, Consumer voice and multimedia solution, Transit and Multimedia Interconnect solution, and the Class 5 solution. These solutions have been successfully deployed across the globe to satisfy the needs of both the small and the large Service Providers deployments. The solutions are media agnostic, are fully featured with full PSTN transparency, can be deployed in either fully SIP or hybrid environments, are bundled with key capabilities to meet all VoIP networking and management requirements, and are fully tested out to the end points.

Nortel is introducing a new hardware platform, called the CS 2000a, which boosts service providers' capacity in a smaller footprint, provides up to a 70 percent reduction in footprint and a 50 percent power savings compared to currently available platform options. Nortel's CS 2000a enables service providers to handle peak call periods more efficiently because it supports call capacity in excess of 5 million Busy Hour Call Attempts (BHCA).

CS 2000a leverages Nortel's widely deployed second generation carrier grade ATCA-based hardware platform coupled with its industry-leading middleware platform -the Versatile Service Engine (VSE). Nortel's VSE platform is application agnostic and delivers a number of differentiators over and above ATCA platforms, such as easy migration of applications onto the platform while at the same time leveraging tight integration and coherent system management to deliver an industry leading proven six 9's of reliability.

Nortel is also introducing the next software release, (I)CVM 14 of the CS 2000, which will unleash a powerful suite of advanced SIP applications that unify the communications experience for subscribers. These new SIP applications increase the service provider's competitive advantage by allowing subscribers to communicate and collaborate with greater ease, flexibility and efficiency.

"Service providers around the globe depend on Nortel's industry-leading CVAS solutions and these latest enhancements are proof of our continued investment to equip service providers with the means to improve network efficiencies, revenue potential and subscriber loyalty," said Samih Elhage, president, CVAS, Nortel. "Nortel CVAS has a commanding first place leadership in the global carrier VoIP and softswitch market and we are making a quantum leap with the CS 2000 hardware and software enhancements introduced today. These enhancements mark our commitment to give service providers more network capacity, scalability and the power to deliver advanced SIP applications to subscribers."

Highlights of the new CS 2000 hardware and software enhancements include:

- CS 2000a, based on Nortel's carrier grade open-standards AdvancedTCA(TM) technology, helps service providers deal with OPEX challenges of today by providing call capacities in excess of 5 million BHCA, up to a 70 percent reduction in floorspace, and reduced services costs. Additional capacity can be added simply by enabling additional software RTU's or through the addition of blade pairs within the ATCA shelf which helps eliminate the need for costly central office infrastructure upgrades. CS 2000a also allows service providers to perform integrated remote patching and upgrades across the platform and it's applications reduce costly operational expenses. The greater degree of hardware integration reduces the amount of cabling and on-site installation effort and cuts deployment timelines up to six weeks.

- (I)CVM release 14 software features allowing service providers to deliver a wide variety of new SIP business applications including a Hosted Call Center feature for SIP terminals/clients; SIP mobile UC clients for easier end-user migration to SIP; extension of multimedia capabilities to subscribers behind SIP business trunks; support of DECT SIP terminals for residential services; remote provisioning of SIP terminals for faster deployments; and other OAM features to help carriers reduce costs. Nortel's CS 2000 (I)CVM release 14 software will be available on Nortel's CS 2000a and previously deployed CS2000 hardware platforms.

Nortel's latest CS 2000 hardware and software enhancements are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2010. They will be demonstrated at Nortel's Supercomm booth (#2120) in Chicago this week. For more information on Nortel at Supercomm, visit [ www.nortel.com/events ].

Nortel has shipped more than 115 million Carrier VoIP and Multimedia ports to more than 350 wireline and wireless carriers globally. According to Infonetics Research's recent report, Service Provider VoIP Equipment and Subscribers Market Share, Size, and Forecasts - 2Q09, Nortel kept its global leadership position for carrier softswitches with 30.2 percent market share. Furthermore, according to Infonetics, during the second quarter of 2009, Nortel kept its position as the dominant softswitch supplier in both North America and EMEA. According to Dell'Oro, Nortel has consistently been ranked as the #1 Global Carrier VoIP and Softswitch leader since 2002. Nortel CVAS has customer deployments in all continents with leading carriers and provides VoIP solutions to two thirds of IDC's worldwide listing of top 20 carriers (by revenue).

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.

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