Nortel Swaps Out CTO

TORONTO -- Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT) today announced the appointment of Gary Kunis as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). As CTO, Kunis will lead the strategic vision for the company's product and technology portfolio. Until 2002, Kunis was the Chief Science Officer at Cisco Systems. One of the pioneers of the Internet in the 1980s, Kunis has led numerous development and engineering breakthroughs related to Internet Protocol (IP) standards and routing technology used to connect the worldwide web of networks that make up the Internet.

Kunis will report to Gary Daichendt, president and chief operating officer (COO), effective April 4, 2005.

"We're thrilled to have Gary join our team. He's an acknowledged Internet pioneer with a solid record of accomplishment and I know he will provide an outstanding contribution to Nortel's technology leadership," said Gary Daichendt, president and chief operating officer, Nortel. "His track record in leading the building, servicing and selling of network technologies globally will be a strong addition. He's an excellent senior leader who throughout his career has consistently demonstrated his ability to link technology innovation with business success both internally and externally."

In addition to the Kunis appointment, Nortel announced that Brian McFadden, a 26-year Nortel veteran and the current CTO, has been appointed to the role of Chief Research Officer (CRO), effective April 4, 2005. In his new role, McFadden will oversee the Advanced Technology, Research and Standards organization and will continue to report to the president and COO. He will be responsible for setting Nortel's research priorities to ensure they support the company's business strategies, which include maintaining an industry leadership position in end-to-end broadband, Voice over IP, multimedia services and applications, and wireless broadband solutions. McFadden will also ensure that Nortel continues to play a lead role in industry standards and regulatory organizations.

"We are absolutely committed to growing our business and a key component of that is our continued technology leadership," said Bill Owens, vice chairman and chief executive officer, Nortel. "Today's announcement reaffirms the profound importance of research and development to Nortel's future and our commitment to ensuring our technology decisions are highly integrated with our overall business strategy and the dynamics of an extremely competitive global market. Creating two distinct technology and research and development organizations with specific mandates and led by two very accomplished senior executives certainly reflects our 'playing to win' commitment to enhancing shareholder value."

Nortel Networks Ltd.