Nortel Advances Ethernet for Coming Wave of Video Services
Toronto, Canada (ots/PRNewswire)
- Unveils Metro Ethernet Innovations for Video, 3G Wireless and Business Services
Following its recent announcement of a new business targeted at Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel(x) (NYSE: NT; TSX: NT) today introduced innovations to; meet the growing demand for high-bandwidth video and data services in service provider metropolitan networks. Nortel's innovations enable service providers to confidently use Ethernet - once a technology used only for PC connectivity in the LAN - as the means for delivering mission critical high-bandwidth services like IPTV, mobile video, and business services.
"Nortel is delivering on its recently announced Metro Ethernet Networks focus, offering innovative solutions that are designed to give Ethernet the determinism, scale, management and service convergence capabilities that are needed to address the growing video transport market," said Philippe Morin, president, Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel. "As new video services become more pervasive, Metro Ethernet gives service providers the capability to satisfy the dramatically increasing requirements for bandwidth and strict performance in metropolitan networks while still maintaining the cost-effectiveness and simplicity that makes Ethernet attractive."
"The growth of video services, from high-definition broadcast to video on demand, across cable, DSL, fiber, and mobile networks, is driving unprecedented demand for bandwidth and Ethernet transport equipment across metro area networks," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, Broadband and IPTV, Infonetics Research. "Ethernet is being increasingly relied on for video traffic because of its cost effectiveness, ability to scale and its flexible QoS models for the increasing variety of video service offerings."
Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks portfolio is focused on making Ethernet more capable for service provider deployments where deterministic service delivery with guaranteed quality of service and carrier-grade reliability is required. Nortel's solutions also give Ethernet the ability to scale to millions of users while ensuring the network is easy to operate and manage with a comprehensive set of management tools. Specifically:
- Nortel is incorporating the deterministic, carrier-grade connection
management characteristics of SONET/ SDH into Ethernet with its
innovative Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) technology. PBT is now
available on the Metro Ethernet Routing Switch (MERS) 8600, with
development underway to integrate PBT into the Optical Multiservice
Edge (OME) 6500 and other Ethernet-ready platforms. Nortel developed
PBT as a reliable, simple, scalable and cost-effective technology
enabling Ethernet-based Metro Networks to work seamlessly with service
providers' existing MPLS core networks.
- Nortel was a driving force in bringing massive scalability (up to
millions of service instances per metro) to Ethernet through the
standardization of Provider Backbone Bridging (IEEE 802.1ah or
Mac-in-Mac). An early implementation of PBB has been available on
Nortel's Metro Ethernet portfolio for several years, and a fully
standardized version will be delivered later this year as the standard
is ratified.
- Nortel is enabling service convergence on its Metro Ethernet solutions
with the availability of integrated, standards-compliant resilient
packet ring (RPR) technology into its flagship OME 6500 optical
platform. RPR capabilities on the OME 6500 support multiple Ethernet
rings of up to 10Gbps and the ability to provision up to eight classes
of service on a per customer and per application basis. This helps
ensure real-time traffic like video is prioritized, and enables
service providers to offer differentiated service level agreements to
their business services customers.
- Nortel is supporting the development of new Ethernet operations,
administration and maintenance (OAM) standards to dramatically enhance
the manageability of Ethernet. These standards are being implemented
across our Metro Ethernet portfolio to deliver comprehensive fault
detection, notification, isolation and troubleshooting mechanisms, in
addition to standardized performance monitoring tools.
- In addition, Nortel has developed several new Ethernet enhancements
that improve the scalability and performance of its Metro Ethernet
portfolio. This includes a new 10 GE Ultra card on the Nortel Optical
Metro 5200 that enables the transport of 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to
175km without the need for regeneration or dispersion compensation, a
59% improvement over previous capabilities.Nortel is committed to building on its market leadership in the growing Metro Ethernet market through continued investment in the business and support of open standardization, certification and interoperability testing efforts. Six products in Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks portfolio have been awarded Ethernet certifications by the Metro Ethernet Forum. Nortel is an industry leader in delivering carrier-grade Ethernet over optical networks, and has shipped 175,000 optical Ethernet ports worldwide. Nortel was the first vendor to commercially deploy RPR-based technology in 1999, and has since shipped over 44,000 RPR ports to customers around the world. Nortel was No. 1 globally in total optical revenues for the first quarter of 2006 according to The Dell'Oro Group.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical information. Our next-generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as "could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different. Further, actual results or events could differ materially from those contemplated in forward-looking statements as a result of the following (i) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's restatements and related matters including: Nortel's most recent restatement and two previous restatements of its financial statements and related events; the negative impact on Nortel and NNL of their most recent restatement and delay in filing their financial statements and related periodic reports; legal judgments, fines, penalties or settlements, or any substantial regulatory fines or other penalties or sanctions, related to the ongoing regulatory and criminal investigations of Nortel in the U.S. and Canada; any significant pending civil litigation actions not encompassed by Nortel's proposed class action settlement; any substantial cash payment and/or significant dilution of Nortel's existing equity positions resulting from the finalization and approval of its proposed class action settlement, or if such proposed class action settlement is not finalized, any larger settlements or awards of damages in respect of such class actions; any unsuccessful remediation of Nortel's material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting resulting in an inability to report Nortel's results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner; the time required to implement Nortel's remedial measures; Nortel's inability to access, in its current form, its shelf registration filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Nortel's below investment grade credit rating and any further adverse effect on its credit rating due to Nortel's restatements of its financial statements; any adverse affect on Nortel's business and market price of its publicly traded securities arising from continuing negative publicity related to Nortel's restatements; Nortel's potential inability to attract or retain the personnel necessary to achieve its business objectives; any breach by Nortel of the continued listing requirements of the NYSE or TSX causing the NYSE and/or the TSX to commence suspension or delisting procedures; (ii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's business including: yearly and quarterly fluctuations of Nortel's operating results; reduced demand and pricing pressures for its products due to global economic conditions, significant competition, competitive pricing practice, cautious capital spending by customers, increased industry consolidation, rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and short product life cycles, and other trends and industry characteristics affecting the telecommunications industry; any material and adverse affects on Nortel's performance if its expectations regarding market demand for particular products prove to be wrong or because of certain barriers in its efforts to expand internationally; any reduction in Nortel's operating results and any related volatility in the market price of its publicly traded securities arising from any decline in its gross margin, or fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; any negative developments associated with Nortel's supply contract and contract manufacturing agreements including as a result of using a sole supplier for key optical networking solutions components, and any defects or errors in Nortel's current or planned products; any negative impact to Nortel of its failure to achieve its business transformation objectives; additional valuation allowances for all or a portion of its deferred tax assets; Nortel's failure to protect its intellectual property rights, or any adverse judgments or settlements arising out of disputes regarding intellectual property; changes in regulation of the Internet and/or other aspects of the industry; Nortel's failure to successfully operate or integrate its strategic acquisitions, or failure to consummate or succeed with its strategic alliances; any negative effect of Nortel's failure to evolve adequately its financial and managerial control and reporting systems and processes, manage and grow its business, or create an effective risk management strategy; and (iii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's liquidity, financing arrangements and capital including: the impact of Nortel's most recent restatement and two previous restatements of its financial statements; any inability of Nortel to manage cash flow fluctuations to fund working capital requirements or achieve its business objectives in a timely manner or obtain additional sources of funding; high levels of debt, limitations on Nortel capitalizing on business opportunities because of credit facility covenants, or on obtaining additional secured debt pursuant to the provisions of indentures governing certain of Nortel's public debt issues and the provisions of its credit facilities; any increase of restricted cash requirements for Nortel if it is unable to secure alternative support for obligations arising from certain normal course business activities, or any inability of Nortel's subsidiaries to provide it with sufficient funding; any negative effect to Nortel of the need to make larger defined benefit plans contributions in the future or exposure to customer credit risks or inability of customers to fulfill payment obligations under customer financing arrangements; any negative impact on Nortel's ability to make future acquisitions, raise capital, issue debt and retain employees arising from stock price volatility and further declines in the market price of Nortel's publicly traded securities, or any future share consolidation resulting in a lower total market capitalization or adverse effect on the liquidity of Nortel's common shares. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Contact:
For further information: Bo Gowan, +1-(972)-685-8278,
bogowan@nortel.com; Patricia Vernon, +1-(905)-863-1035,
patricve@nortel.com; Ben Roome, +44-(0)1628-43-3113,
benroome@nortel.com