Nortel Scores Contract Wins

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -– Care New England Health System has deployed a managed Optical Ethernet service from Cox Business Services, the commercial broadband and telecom division of Cox Communications, Inc. (NYSE:COX), based on an Optical Ethernet solution from Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT).

Care New England, comprised of five leading healthcare providers, is using this service to converge networks across multiple campuses to promote consistent services, cost savings, reliability of critical patient information and support for emerging healthcare applications.

The service, installed and managed by Cox Business Services, is based on Nortel Networks Optical Metro 3500 with Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) capabilities. Using Optical Ethernet, Care New England has converged its voice and data traffic on a common infrastructure, reducing cost and complexity by reducing the number of networks deployed and supported.

All existing and new applications will be centralized at the main data center and each site can access these applications via the high-speed optical network.

"With the industry rapidly moving toward digital content, it became very apparent that we needed a high-bandwidth network capable of delivering real-time, reliable and secure access to critical patient information across the network," said Howard Rubin, director, Technical Services, Care New England Health System. "The Optical Ethernet solution meets our needs for integration and consistency across the network, allowing us to easily and cost-effectively support new applications that will improve patient care."

Care New England's high-speed Optical Ethernet service converges traffic from a full suite of Nortel Networks enterprise voice and data solutions, including Nortel Networks Alteon Application Switches, Nortel Networks BayStack Ethernet Switches, Nortel Networks Contivity Secure Routing Technology equipment and Nortel Networks Passport Routing Switches. Together with Optical Ethernet service, these solutions give Care New England the scalability to support future growth and implement emerging healthcare applications.

"Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet is designed to enable a range of solutions for healthcare and other industries to help implement convergence, drive reduced costs and support new high-speed data services," said Jean-Luc Panetta, leader, Optical Ethernet Solutions, Optical Networks, Nortel Networks. "These solutions also give customers the flexibility to adopt a managed service solution from a leading provider like Cox."

In a separate release:

OTTAWA -- North Dakota Telephone Company is now positioned to offer its customers higher bandwidth services at lower cost using Optical Ethernet technology from Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT).

"We intend to provide quality, competitive communication services that will enhance the quality of life for our customer base," said Rich Ellison, manager, Network Services, North Dakota Telephone. "By using Nortel Networks highly reliable, scalable Optical Ethernet technology, we can easily accomplish this goal while meeting our capital and operational expense objectives."

To offer these services, North Dakota Telephone has deployed the latest release (12.0) of Nortel Networks Optical Metro 3500 Multiservice Platform, which includes next generation SONET, Optical Ethernet and Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) technology. This platform makes it possible for service providers to offer revenue-generating optical broadband services to support mission-critical applications using existing equipment. This technology supports North Dakota Telephone's evolution plan, which is centered on delivery of next generation voice and data services on a single converged network. Using RPR capabilities via Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet technology, North Dakota Telephone will have the capability to deliver converged, higher bandwidth services at lower costs.

"Nortel Networks commitment to consistent innovation throughout our end-to-end Optical Ethernet portfolio makes it possible for customers like North Dakota Telephone to provide new levels of service cost effectively," said Jean Luc Panetta, general manager, Optical Ethernet Solutions, Nortel Networks. "Our optical broadband solutions are ideally suited for cost-effective voice and data delivery across a single platform."

Nortel Networks Ltd.