Lucent Technologies Chosen for Converged Voice and Data Network by Bulgarian National Health Insurance

Business Wire, March 9, 2000

Business Editors

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2000

Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced it has signed an agreement with the Bulgarian National Health Insurance Authority for the delivery of a fully converged voice and data network across 28 regional and branch offices.

Lucent was selected by the Bulgarian Ministry of Health for its ability to meet the complex network requirements needed to link all insurance offices across the country with a unified end-to-end voice and data solution. The project also required delivery of high-bandwidth applications at high speeds, such as the secure transfer of X-ray images and patient records to various clinics countrywide. In order to meet the required level of confidentiality, this application will be delivered with Lucent Managed Firewall (LMF) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) capabilities.

"Our decision to select Lucent is based on their ability to provide a single infrastructure that delivers a complete end-to-end solution integrating voice and data products," said Mr. Boiko Dimitrov, director of the Bulgarian Health Insurance Authority. "We wanted a single vendor to provide a truly best-in-class high bandwidth network that was not only robust and reliable but also secure and cost effective."

According to Kontrax, a leading Bulgarian value-added reseller and Lucent's partner in the implementation of this network, Lucent was selected because of its strong VPN and LMF solution combined with excellent network switch monitoring (SMON) capability on not only the voice but also the data side. On the voice side, the scalability and flexibility of port density via the DEFINITY Prologix also provided the Bulgarian Ministry with everything it needed from a single vendor.

"This is a significant and strategic win for Lucent in Eastern Europe and it underscores Lucent's position as a key player in the voice and data convergence market," said Benny Somech, regional sales director in charge of the internetworking solutions for Lucent's Enterprise Networks Eastern Europe.

As an integrated single network solution, this project exemplifies Lucent's RealWorld(TM) MultiService Architecture strategy. The project consists of 2400 data and 1800 voice switch ports across the country linked through an ATM backbone network. The products to be used include Lucent's award winning Cajun switches, DEFINITY, AX-100/600, LMF, VPN, and the SYSTIMAX(R) GigaSPEED Structured Connectivity Solutions.

About Lucent

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. Additional information about Lucent Technologies is available on the company's Web site at www.lucent.com.