Cabletron and Northern Telecom announce strategic relationship; Companies working together to develop and market integrated communication and network solutions for customers worldwide

Business Wire, Dec 4, 1995

ROCHESTER, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 1995--Cabletron Systems (NYSE:CS), a leading provider of computer networking hardware and software and Northern Telecom (Nortel), a leading global provider of communications products, systems and networks, today announced the signing of a letter of intent to jointly develop and market integrated communications and network products and services.

Nortel and Cabletron are discussing co-development activities associated with Cabletron's SPECTRUM for Open Systems network management software and MMAC SmartSwitch intelligent hub product lines and Nortel's Magellan Passport and Meridian 1 product portfolios.

The relationship has been formed to address customers needs concerning the convergence of voice, video and data networks. Companies are experiencing a growing need for network solutions to view, configure, troubleshoot and secure their unified multimedia networks. Customers will realize operational cost savings through coordinated configuration activities, simplified installation and maintenance and reduced training needs. Integrated fault management and automated recovery mechanism will result in higher levels of service. Alarm coordination and filtering will allow faster problem isolation and resolution.

In addition, the two corporations also agreed to use each other's products within their own organizations. Nortel plans to incorporate Cabletron's MMAC intelligent switching hubs into its corporate communication networks and to install SPECTRUM to provide integrated network and systems management, including management of Nortel's Meridian and Magellan Passport products in that network. Cabletron plans to use Nortel's Meridian business communications systems and Magellan Passport Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Enterprise Network Switch to improve its communication networks.

"While other companies are just talking about combining the benefits of voice, video and data, the Cabletron/Nortel relationship will actually deploy large scale installation of these networks," said Cabletron Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Craig Benson. "Using our own companies as templates, we will both embark on aggressive internal installations of fully managed and scaled computer and telecommunications networks. These benchmark networks will be used as providing grounds for how merged technologies can enable our customers to solve their business problems."

As a part of this move to standardize on each other's products, Cabletron plans to install and showcase a network of Nortel Meridian 1 PBX systems and Norstar digital key systems, each with integrated voice mail, in more than 80 locations worldwide. The network will incorporate several highly sophisticated call centers, designed to provide rapid-response customer support for order fulfillment and technical support. Cabletron's headquarters employees will also have Nortel VISIT Video desktop video conferencing capabilities and a Messenger unified messaging system for managing voice mail, facsimile and e-mail messages from their personal computers.

The incorporation of Cabletron's MMAC SmartSwitch intelligent switching hubs will be an important step in the evolution of Nortel's internal enterprise network. Nortel's enterprise network, based on Magellan Passport and Vector ATM switches, is one of the most advanced in the world. Nortel will extend its enterprise ATM WAN network, currently installed at all major North American locations, to the desktop in 1996. With this strategy, Nortel will eliminate the complexity of using routers in the network. Plans are underway to deploy multimedia applications to exploit the benefits afforded by this technology. Nortel plans to manage this environment via Cabletron's SPECTRUM for Open Systems network management software.

"Cabletron's SPECTRUM network management software is gaining market share more quickly than any of their competitors with its fully distributed architecture and systems management capabilities," notes Glenn Gabriel Ben-Yosef, Clear Thinking Research. "Nortel's successful Meridian and Magellan switches fit nicely into Cabletron's portfolio, making unified and distributed management of voice, video and data possible for their customers."

"As networks become more complex and distributed, the need for enterprise network management solutions increases," said Rick Faletti, Nortel's president, Multimedia Communications Systems. "Enterprises want to move from managing devices and networks to managing their businesses, and that includes all forms of networks. Customers will be the real winners from this relationship because integrated solutions will help them cut costs and improve network reliability and availability."

Cabletron Systems Inc. is the largest company in the world dedicated exclusively to computer networking products and services. With corporate headquarters in Rochester, N.H., the company has 86 offices around the world and employs 5,500 people. Over the last four quarters, the company has reported record revenue of $934 million and earnings of $188 million.