PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP. PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has been selected by BT as a preferred supplier in the Metro domain of BT's 21st Century Network (21CN) transformation. BT has announced it expects to conclude contractual agreements with named preferred suppliers over the summer.

As the highest Quality of Service for planned and future services is critical, BT required a multi-service edge router that can quickly respond as future services are added. The solution including the Alcatel 7750 Service Router and the 5620 Service Aware manager meets these requirements. The combination will enable BT to continue meeting the highest level of consumer expectations as it transitions to an all IP environment.

BT's 21st Century Network is a next generation platform designed to remove duplication across BT's existing service-specific networks. It does this through the creation of a single converged multi-service network based on Internet Protocol. It will also be the world's first major public switched telephone network (PSTN) to IP migration and is among the most ambitious infrastructure project performed by any operator anywhere in the world. Mass migration of customers will start in 2006, enabling its customers to enjoy a range of next generation services.

BT's vision is for its strategic partners to move away from closed proprietary systems towards a "plug and play" approach built upon common, reusable, capabilities. Alcatel has demonstrated this "interoperability" with the other vendors selected in a number of tests and at the same time, makes its end-to-end integration capacity available to BT.

"As a long term supplier to BT, combined with the growing market success of our IP Router technology and proven large-scale deployment capabilities, Alcatel is well suited to assist BT in this massive groundbreaking project", said Jacques Dunogue, Executive Vice President and President of Europe and South for Alcatel. "We look forward to working with BT and the other selected vendors on open standards-based solutions capable of delivering user centric services at lower network operating costs ".

Alcatel's credentials as a strategic next generation network provider are exemplified by major projects, including SBC's $1.7 billion Project Lightspeed, as well as being the vendor of choice for broadband, IP edge or triple play solution integrator for most major operators in EMEA. These include France Telecom, KPN, Sistema, Telekom Austria, Cegetel, Auna, and Belgacom to mention a few. Alcatel has also been selected for China Telecom's ChinaNet2 (CN2) nationwide IP/MPLS network, including the optical backbone providing connectivity for the CN2 network.

Alcatel