Nortel Completes World's First Demonstration of Unified Communications Over 4G WiMAX

Nortel(1) (TSX: NT)(NYSE: NT) has completed what is believed to be the world's first demonstration of unified communications over 4G WiMAX at WiMAX World USA. With a simple mouse click in a Microsoft Office client, a phone call is initiated and transmitted over a 4G WiMAX network. The demonstration highlights the future possibilities for wireless carriers to deliver hosted unified communications solutions to their small and medium business (SMB) and enterprise customers.

The combination of unified communications with Nortel carrier-grade technologies such as 4G WiMAX and Carrier VoIP will enable service providers to generate new revenues by capitalizing on opportunities created by the era of Hyperconnectivity , where anything that can be connected, will be. By offering carrier-hosted unified communications services, carriers can simplify business for SMBs and enterprises that do not have the resources to maintain advanced communication services in house.

With Hyperconnectivity, more and more devices are being connected to the network, making access to communications tools for employees increasingly complex; for example, multiple passwords are required to access the various devices. Nortel's suite of unified communications solutions addresses this challenge by providing a single, presence-enabled interface to all office communications such as telephone, voicemail, e-mail and instant messaging. The end result is a simplified way for employees to communicate which can enhance productivity and accelerate the speed at which a business can operate.

"By combining our expertise in enterprise technologies with our leadership in Carrier VoIP/SIP and 4G, Nortel is delivering what is needed for businesses of any size to simplify their communications in this new era of Hyperconnectivity," said Alfredo de Cardenas, general manager, Carrier Multimedia Networks, Nortel. "Not only are we enabling today's carriers to expand their markets and increase revenues by offering carrier-hosted unified communications solutions, we are also pushing the envelope, showing new ways in which these services might be offered as carriers adopt 4G wireless broadband technologies such as WiMAX."

According to Dell'Oro, Nortel has been the worldwide leader in Carrier VoIP for the last five years (2002-2006) and recently, Nortel was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner, Inc.'s "Unified Communication Magic Quadrant" report(2) published in August 2007. Nortel is committed to innovation and excellence which leads to the creation of powerful new solutions like unified communications.

Nortel's converged office solution for wireline operators, which builds upon the Nortel/Microsoft Innovative Communications Alliance (ICA), is currently in trials and will be introduced to the market by the end of this year. The joint Nortel/Microsoft carrier-hosted solution addresses the needs of both large enterprises and SMBs allowing businesses to benefit from unified communications without bearing the burden of purchasing, installing and managing additional network resources. The solution also includes a full lifecycle of services from Nortel's Global Services portfolio, which offers applications, implementation, management and support for end-to-end multi-vendor, multi-technology networks. These professional services help carriers reduce risk and realize the benefits of delivering a unified communications solution.

"In today's business environment workers need the ability to be as productive while on the move as they are in the office," said Michael O'Hara, general manager, Communications Sector, Microsoft. "This is as true for small and medium-sized businesses as it is for larger enterprises. That's why Microsoft and Nortel, with our carrier-hosted unified communications solution, are making it easier than ever for businesses of all sizes to get the rich communications services they want, whenever and wherever they are needed."

The demonstration of unified communications over WiMAX can be seen at Nortel's booth at WiMAX World USA in Chicago (booth #701, Hall D1, Level 3, McCormick Place) September 26-27. The demo uses Nortel's 4G WiMAX solution as well as Nortel Communications Server 2000 , IP Multimedia Softswitch for enhanced voice services together with the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration and includes the Microsoft Office Communicator desktop soft phone as well as Microsoft Office Communications Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering 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. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries around the world. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com . For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news .