Louisiana Superdome Sports Nortel Secure Converged Network for Anywhere, Anytime Game Action
New Orleans, November 13 (ots/PRNewswire)
- Nortel Data, IP Telephony, Security and Wireless Solutions Enable Stadium-wide Network Access
Football fans have another reason to cheer this season as the Louisiana Superdome sports a secure IP network featuring hospitality solutions and services from Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) and its channel partner Cohesive Connections.
"The Superdome's restoration after Hurricane Katrina is a great symbol of rebirth for New Orleans," said David Stewart, regional manager of technology for SMG Management, the company that owns and operates the Louisiana Superdome. "Working with Nortel and Cohesive Connections, we rebuilt the Dome as one of the most technologically-advanced sports facilities in the world, bringing the games closer to the fans through use of wireless, digital and online technology."
The Superdome's resilient converged voice and data network is comprised of Nortel data, IP telephony and security solutions. Nortel Global Services, in conjunction with Cohesive Connections, provided pre-deployment planning and design of the Superdome network, in addition to building and managing the network.
As part of this network expansion, the Superdome is now seamlessly connected to the New Orleans Arena, which hosts the NBA's New Orleans Hornets. Simplifying communication between the two SMG-operated venues will help reduce operations costs and time, as well as give SMG staff remote access to the network when off-site.
In addition, mobile broadband service is being deployed throughout the stadium in two phases, and upon completion will transform the Superdome into one of the world's largest WLAN deployments in a dome with a non-retractable roof. Powered by Nortel's WLAN 2300, wireless service is now available on the Superdome's ground level and at its entrances. As part of this deployment, staff members are using WiFi handheld scanners to quickly scan and validate tickets at entry points to reduce crowd bottlenecks for faster and more efficient entry to the facility.
"We've had record turn-outs for the Saints' 2006 season-we had more than 70,000 people here on opening night. Using the WiFi scanners at the Dome's entrances helped us quickly move people through the gates, allowing fans to spend less time in line and more time experiencing the game," said Stewart.
Media and photographers covering sporting events are also able to use the completed mobile broadband network to rapidly exchange, upload and update files. In addition, hundreds of wireless and wireline Nortel IP phones are being used in the Superdome to give staff and guests stadium-wide access to voice services.
"With the restoration of the Superdome, New Orleans once again claims its position as one of the leading sports cities in America, and Nortel is truly honoured to be a part of this historic revitalisation," said Steve Slattery, president, Enterprise Solutions, Nortel. "Through Nortel's technology and services, we are laying the foundation to give Superdome guests and staff an extraordinary communications experience that will take them one step closer to the field and one step closer to rebuilding their own lives one cheer, one goal at a time."
At the heart of the Superdome's converged voice and data network is Nortel's Secure Network Access technology that grants secure, flexible, and reliable network access from anywhere in the building. The Nortel Secure Network Access switch provides the Superdome with comprehensive security features to ensure authentication for all users while protecting against intrusion. The Superdome's network expansion also includes Nortel Switched Firewalls to protect the Superdome's data and IP telephony network and Nortel's Enterprise Network Management System. Nortel's Threat Protection System will perform detailed traffic analysis to aid in protecting the network from existing and emerging threats.
In the network core, the Superdome is equipped with Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch and WLAN 2300 solutions designed to ensure seamless, secure and constant wired and wireless network availability. Nortel's Communication Server 1000 delivers the converged IP communications system offering a range of telephony features and multimedia applications to users on the network.
Nortel's Global Services include a full range of integrated services for design, deployment, management and maintenance of end-to-end multi-vendor network solutions, including seamless migration to next generation technologies.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognised 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", "targets", "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. Nortel has made various assumptions in the preparation of its financial outlook in this press release, including the following company specific assumptions: no further negative impact to Nortel's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity arising from Nortel's restatements of its financial results; Nortel's prices increasing at or above the rate of price increases for similar products in geographic regions in which Nortel sells its products; increase in sales to Nortel's enterprise customers and wireless service provider customers in the Asia Pacific region as a result of Nortel's joint venture with LG Electronics Inc.; anticipated growth in sales to enterprise customers, including the full year impact to Nortel's revenues from its acquisition of PEC Solutions, Inc., (now Nortel Government Solutions Incorporated); improvement in Nortel's product costs due to favourable supplier pricing substantially offset by higher costs associated with initial customer deployments in emerging markets; cost reductions resulting from the completion of Nortel's significant financial restatements and 2004 restructuring plan; a moderate increase in costs over 2005 related to investments in the finance organisation and remedial measures related to Nortel's material weaknesses in internal controls; increased employee costs relative to expected cost of living adjustments and employee bonuses offset by a significant reduction in executive recruitment and severance costs incurred in 2005; and the effective execution of Nortel's strategy. Nortel has also made certain macroeconomic and general industry assumptions in the preparation of its financial guidance including: a modest growth rate in the gross domestic product of global economies in the range of 3.9% which is higher than the growth rate in 2005; global service provider capital expenditures in 2006 reflecting mid to high single digit growth as compared to low double digit growth in 2005; a general increase in demand for broadband access, data traffic and wireless infrastructure and services in emerging markets with the rate of growth in developed markets beginning to slow; and a moderate impact as a result of expected industry consolidation among service providers in various geographic regions, particularly in North America and EMEA. The above assumptions, although considered reasonable by Nortel at the date of this press release, may prove to be inaccurate and consequently Nortel's actual results could differ materially from its expectations set out in this press release.
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 US 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 approval of its proposed class action settlement; 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; the sufficiency of recently announced restructuring actions, including the potential for higher actual costs to be incurred in connection with these restructuring actions compared to the estimated costs of such actions and the ability to achieve the targeted cost savings and reductions of Nortel's unfunded pension liability deficit; 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, including completion of the sale of its UMTS access business to Alcatel; 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; 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For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form10-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