Nortel Works with Industry Leaders to Drive New Global Standard for Mesh Wireless Local Area Networks; Wi-Mesh Alliance to Present Proposal to IEEE 802.11 Task Group S

Business Wire, July 19, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nortel (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT) and the other members of the Wi-Mesh Alliance are working together to help standardize mesh wireless local area networks (WLAN) around the world to promote interoperability of a wide range of wireless communication devices and services.

As a result of extensive technical collaboration with its partners, the Wi-Mesh Alliance will present later today its proposal for a new global mesh WLAN standard to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) 802.11 Task Group S (TGs) meeting on wireless mesh in San Francisco.

The Wi-Mesh Alliance is a group of companies with a common view toward rapidly achieving a mesh WLAN standard that will enable seamless communications for wireless users regardless of equipment vendor. The Wi-Mesh Alliance proposal was developed under the guidelines of the IEEE Standards Association. It builds on existing and pending 802.11 protocols to maximize technology re-use and compatibility.

"The ever expanding proliferation of wireless devices and communication services has made the development of a worldwide standard for mesh WLANs critical to their future success," said Mark Whitton, vice president, Wireless Solutions, Nortel. "Wireless users expect secure seamless access anywhere, anytime, and the new standard proposed by the Alliance is designed to enable mesh WLANs to meet those expectations as wireless communications continue to evolve. Nortel has worked closely with the Alliance to develop the new standard by contributing the best of our company's global experience and leadership in deploying mesh networks."

The Alliance is a diverse set of industry leaders, including Accton Technology Corporation, ComNets RWTH Aachen University, InterDigital Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: IDCC), NextHop Technologies Inc, Nortel, Thomson (NYSE: TMS), and others.

Mesh technology provides a cost-effective way to extend WLAN coverage for businesses and consumers, both indoors and outdoors throughout large areas like cities, campuses, shopping malls and airports. Nortel's Wireless Mesh Network solution has been deployed by businesses, universities and government agencies, including Taipei City and Kaohsiung City in Taiwan, The University of Arkansas, Edith Cowan University in Australia, and Seo Won University and Black Stone Golf & Resort in Korea.

The Wi-Mesh Alliance proposal's design intent is to be extensible with the future 802.11n high throughput amendment. This approach will provide support for the existing worldwide Wi-Fi network installed base, while extending Wi-Fi network deployments within designated radio frequency (RF) spectrum.

For Highlights of the Wi-Mesh Alliance proposal see www.wi-mesh.org.

About Accton Technology Corporation

For more than 18 years, Accton (TAIEX: 2345) has been making partnerships work; designing, developing and manufacturing innovative technology for top-tier networking, computer, and telecommunications vendors. The company's robust and constantly-evolving core technology and highly-qualified employees allow Accton to produce the best in networking and communications technology that keeps people connected around the world and across the office. Headquartered in the heart of Taiwan's Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, Accton's teams of engineers work on location with partners and from Accton R&D centers around the globe. For more information about Accton and its subsidiaries, visit www.accton.com.

About ComNets

ComNets (www.comnets.rwth-aachen.de), the Chair of Communication Networks at RWTH Aachen University, is one of the largest university departments in Germany working on mobile communications. Research projects are mainly funded by third parties like national and European boards and communication industries. The research activities of about 40 fully employed research assistants are focused on design and further development as well as quantitative performance analysis of mobile communication systems like IEEE 802.15 (WPAN), 802.11 (WLAN) and 802.16 (WMAN), GPRS, TETRA, EDGE, UMTS, DSRC, Wireless Mesh Networks, ETSI HiperLAN/2 and HiperMAN. Stochastic simulation based on emulated protocol stacks and traffic theory are the main analysis methods. Essential results of ComNets' work have been incorporated into various standards as e.g. ETSI-GPRS, CEN-DSRC, ETSI/HiperLAN/2 & IEEE 802.11.

About InterDigital Communications Corporation

InterDigital designs, develops and provides advanced wireless technologies and products that drive voice and data communications. The company offers technology and product solutions for wireless applications that deliver time-to-market, performance and cost benefits, as well as product differentiation advantages to its commercial and government/military customers. InterDigital has a strong portfolio of patented technologies covering 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 802 standards, which it licenses worldwide. For more information, please visit InterDigital's web site: www.interdigital.com. InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital Communications Corporation.