Nortel Offers Service Assurance Featuring Ibm Voip Management Software

Consulting, Integration Help Lower Costs, Enhance Quality Of Customer Experience
TORONTO – Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] and IBM** [NYSE: IBM] today announced a new service assurance solution combining IBM Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager software with network consulting and integration services from Nortel. This solution is for communication service providers seeking greater network capacity and performance with lower costs.


Nortel’s Service Assurance Solution unites IBM Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager, Nortel’s Tivoli Netcool-based Common Management Platform and Nortel Global Services to provide greater visibility and control across multi-technology, multi-vendor networks. This enables service providers to more quickly isolate and address performance issues, helping to lower support costs and improve service levels.

“As customers use more video and other bandwidth-intensive applications, they become less tolerant of service degradation,” said Dietmar Wendt, president, Global Services, Nortel. “Yet managing service quality is more challenging than ever as converged networks and technologies grow more complex. IBM and Nortel understand these challenges, and we have combined our strengths in IT applications, network technologies and services to address them.”

Nortel’s Service Assurance Solution provides operational consulting, network integration, customization and performance monitoring from the Nortel Global Services portfolio. This saves service providers the time and cost of hiring, training and using in-house IT staff for service assurance.

Key to providing these services is IBM’s Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager, the first integrated service quality, fault and performance management offering from IBM for carrier VoIP networks. It presents real-time service level management views, helping service providers identify network problems before they occur.

The initial version of IBM Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager supports Nortel’s Communication Server 2000 IP Multimedia Softswitch.

“Leveraging IBM’s Tivoli Netcool technology in Nortel’s Common Management Platform is an effective way to offer consistent, comprehensive network management,” said Peter Mottishaw, an analyst with OSS Observer**. “Combining Nortel’s network engineering and operations expertise with IBM Tivoli Netcool’s market-leading service assurance product suite offers service providers the ability to efficiently implement a world-class OSS [Operations Support System] solution while minimizing the risks that often accompany such projects.”

“IBM Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager supports IBM’s commitment to the communication service provider market in enabling best-in-class service assurance for existing and emerging next generation services,” said Kieran Moynihan, vice president and chief technology officer of Telecoms, Tivoli Software, IBM. “The software leverages IBM’s industry leading service management platform for real-time management of carrier VoIP services and infrastructures.”

Generally available in July 2008, Nortel’s Service Assurance Solution with IBM Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager will be demonstrated at Management World 2008**, May 20-22, 2008 in Nice, France.

Generally available now, IBM Tivoli Netcool Carrier VoIP Manager, and will also be demonstrated at IBM Pulse 2008**, May 18-22, 2008 in Orlando, Fla.

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 from those contemplated in forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel’s Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly Reports 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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