Alcatel Unveils ATCA Gear

CANNES, France -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced its endorsement of the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA) as the preferred architecture for the evolution of its mobile and fixed network infrastructure platforms. As part of its strategy for open, IT-based and cost-effective platforms, Alcatel is leveraging the benefits of AdvancedTCA across its entire portfolio of network solutions, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership for fixed and mobile operators.

Over the past year, Alcatel has been working to define and develop modular communications platforms built upon AdvancedTCA, Carrier-Grade Linux and other industry standards. As part of this program, Alcatel has initiated an active collaboration with Intel, the AdvancedTCA industry leader. Alcatel and Intel are working together on the system architectures for AdvancedTCA that take full advantage of Intel application and network processor products, with the objective to deliver faster time to market and superior price/performance to the industry.

At 3GSM World Congress 2005 in Cannes, Alcatel announced its first AdvancedTCA-compliant SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node), a service-critical mobile core network element which provides the continuity of data communication throughout the different cells of the mobile network. This constitutes one of the world's first applications of AdvancedTCA-based network equipment. Alcatel also leverages AdvancedTCA technology in its Alcatel 5020 Softswitch for fixed networks, further building upon its current successful product based on an earlier version of AdvancedTCA technology.

AdvancedTCA is an open industry standard for carrier-grade blade-based servers, targeting the requirements for next-generation telecommunications network equipment. The series of specifications is designed to provide higher I/O capacity and computing performance, improved reliability and flexibility, reduced equipment footprint and power consumption, as well as greater choice and interoperability of components at multiple levels of the solution 'stack'.

For Alcatel's customers around the world, this transition to an open architecture platform means faster time to market for introducing new telecommunications platforms and applications, being able to more quickly and efficiently leverage the rapid pace of innovation within the IT industry, further reduction of operating expenses based on a common platform architecture, flexible and modular scaling of network capacity, as well as long-term investment protection.

In order to guarantee the flexibility and openness with improved time to market of its solutions, Alcatel's next-generation network infrastructure program is also building upon an ecosystem of leading IT players such as Motorola, Continuous Computing, HP and Sun Microsystems.

Alcatel