MURRAY HILL, N.J. -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced a three-year agreement with BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) that will significantly accelerate the expansion of BellSouth's Voice over IP (VoIP) services throughout BellSouth's nine-state territory.

BellSouth currently is deploying solutions from Lucent's Accelerate(TM) VoIP portfolio of next-generation products, services and software to support BellSouth(R) Centrex IP Service announced today (www.bellsouth.com), as part of the company's comprehensive voice and data solutions for businesses.

The Lucent Accelerate(TM) Enterprise Solution enables BellSouth to offer central office-based converged communication solutions (Centrex IP) to enterprises seeking to combine voice, data and Internet resources. With the Lucent solution, BellSouth can provide businesses with the same benefits of traditional Centrex service, which include custom calling functionality housed in BellSouth's network instead of equipment at the customer's location, as well as dramatically increase efficiencies and features enabled by harnessing the power of BellSouth's data network.

"BellSouth continues to equip its network with the technology to deliver the services and capabilities that customers demand," said Bill Smith, BellSouth's chief technology officer. "BellSouth Centrex IP Service is a key enhancement to the company's voice portfolio and demonstrates BellSouth's commitment to provide multiple answers for businesses as they evolve and converge their voice and data networks,"

BellSouth is deploying Lucent's EBS Communication Manager, which works with telephony systems to deliver IP-enhanced business applications via a Web graphical user interface, and iMerge(R) Centrex Feature Gateway, which works with any Class 5 switch, and serves as a bridge between circuit-switched networks and IP network infrastructures to deliver Class 5 features and functionality over a packet network.

"The Lucent solution means BellSouth customers using central office-based Centrex service can convert their networks to VoIP today without compromising the reliability and feature richness they have come to expect with BellSouth Centrex service," said Vince Molinaro, president of North America sales for Lucent Technologies. "Today's announcement underscores the key role Lucent is playing in helping customers like BellSouth 'accelerate' the deployment of new, exciting IP services and their speed to market."

Among the end-user benefits of the Lucent Accelerate(TM) Enterprise Solution are data/voice convergence, greater capabilities for teleworkers and roadwarriors, new options for improving business continuity, and cost savings formerly associated with each move, add or change. Lucent's EBS Communication Manager also will allow BellSouth customers to enjoy a wide range of productivity enhancing services, including find- me/follow-me functionality and remote access to office calling features.

Lucent Technologies Inc.

BellSouth Corp.