Nortel Intros ATCA IMS Platform

BARCELONA, Spain -- Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) today announced aggressive plans to evolve its wireless and wireline platforms to the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA(R)).

As part of its strategy to provide open, carrier grade solutions, Nortel is bringing to market a second generation, carrier grade ATCA-based platform - the Versatile Service Engine (VSE) - to support the unique market requirements of wireless, wireline and cable operators.

Nortel's Call Session Control Function (CSCF), which is in multiple global customer trials, will be the first IMS product delivered on the VSE platform, with planned commercial availability in the second quarter of 2006. Nortel intends to introduce additional IMS and core products such as the IMS Home Subscriber Server (HSS), wireline/wireless call servers (MSC) and Home Location Registers (HLR) on the VSE in 2006 and 2007, enabling significant operational savings for service providers as these ATCA-based platforms are deployed within one common environment.

The VSE delivers an extensive set of carrier class features that give service providers a 50 percent increase in shelf density, significant circuit pack commonality between platforms and "flight recorder" capabilities that enable system restoration without data loss. For Nortel customers around the world, Nortel's ATCA-based design leadership being delivered on the VSE will help reduce the footprint of network core components, increase network capacity, improve reliability and flexibility, as well as provide greater choice and interoperability of product components.

Standardizing Nortel's core IMS components on the ATCA-based VSE ensures solutions are delivered with robust commercially available components. The value of ATCA-based IMS architecture will become even more compelling as wireline and wireless core networks begin to converge. The new Nortel IMS release is not only designed to bring operators the openness of ATCA standardization but also give service providers access to empowered services such as converged mobility that enable subscribers to transparently move across cellular and WiFi domains with voice and multimedia services.

Nortel will host live demonstrations of its core IMS solution during 3GSM World Congress 2006 in Barcelona, Spain.

In a separate release:

TORONTO -- Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) successfully supported the latest round of interoperability testing at the latest Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) TestFest. Nortel demonstrated interoperability between its IMS solution and IMS clients and application/service enabler servers from multiple major vendors.

The International Institute of Telecommunications (IIT) hosted the OMA TestFest in Montreal, Canada last month. The event enables vendors to conduct hardware and software interoperability tests defining OMA industry standards to enable the smooth deployment of new wireless applications around the world. The IIT provided TestFest participants with an advanced mobile infrastructure that allowed equipment manufacturers and software developers to integrate their platforms in a trusted and secure environment, enabling testing and debugging, as well as research and design activities.

Nortel's IMS solution, comprised of its commercially available Call Session Control Function (CSCF) and Home Subscriber Server (HSS), was extensively used in testing implementations of OMA's push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) and presence solutions. Nortel's IMS solution demonstrated interoperability with four PoC servers and ten PoC clients and five presence servers and seven presence clients.

Nortel's IMS solution also successfully facilitated network to network interface (NNI) testing of PoC. NNI testing, which is the most complex and least tested PoC call scenario, involved two Nortel IMS systems, two different PoC servers and several PoC clients, all from different vendors.

"The OMA TestFest is a critical step in removing the barriers to global IMS deployment by enabling seamless application interoperability," said Alan Stoddard, general manager, Carrier Multimedia Solutions, Nortel. "Successful completion of this interoperability testing underscores Nortel's commitment to delivering an open, standards-based IMS solution and helping to shape the future of IMS in the industry. We thank the IIT for its contribution to the success of the OMA TestFest and for its continued support of Nortel."

"OMA TestFests are designed to reduce the commercial barrier to entry and maximize potential for adoption of mobile products and services," said Jari Alvinen, chairman of the board of OMA. "When our members bring their experiences with test implementations back into the OMA, we constantly improve the quality of our Enablers."

Nortel Networks Ltd.