New Nortel IP Voice Core Drives GSM-R Momentum in Algeria and Lithuania

Rail Industry’s First ATCA-Compliant All IP Voice Core Solution Delivers Instant Mobile Communications, Helps Cut Costs

PARIS - Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT ] has launched an All-IP Voice Core solution for rail operators based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) platform. The new solution provides robust carrier-grade voice core for GSM-R infrastructure delivering instant mobile communications benefits even at high-speeds. Nortel is now delivering the ATCA-compliant Voice Core in solutions for rail operators in Algeria and Lithuania.

Platforms based on open ATCA standards are emerging as preferred foundations for advanced high- performance telecommunications applications. The award-winning Nortel All-IP Voice Core equips high-speed rail operators to achieve immediate improvements in operational efficiency. It enables drivers, dispatchers, shunting team members, train engineers, station controllers and other railway employees to use a common interoperable communications system to communicate safely, reliably and securely. Improved communications helps to ensure passenger safety and railway track efficiency while reducing operational cost.

The new solution includes the switching, mobility and subscriber management functions needed to achieve seamless and secure operation of wireless voice service for railway operations. And it helps reduce operational costs through ease-of-maintenance, improved network management features and the ability to operate efficiently using less power.

New generation Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) designed specifically for rail operators are also included in the solution. The new generation BTS has a dual TDMA feature which increases radio coverage and enables a reduction in the number of base stations needed as well as the required height of the radio masts.

“Nortel is continuing its GSM-R leadership and innovation with a new solution that expands our portfolio of solutions for rail operators,” said Graham Richardson, general manager GSM, Nortel. “Thanks to advanced IP technology the ATCA-compliant All-IP Voice Core Solution helps cut operating costs and offers ease of transition to enhanced services allowing operators to increase productivity and improve customer service.”

LitRail (Lithuanian Railways) an early adopter of the new solution attests to Richardson’s claims. “Following the acceptance tests for our Nortel All IP Voice Core solution we are fully convinced of its benefits. It is powerful and its energy efficiency features mean it is also a power-saver,” said Arturas Ovcarukas the GSM-R deputy project manager at LitRail.

This new generation technology enables significant reductions in power consumption that bring operational cost-savings for operators while preserving the environment. “We are working to reduce the power consumption on all our product lines and, as an example of our focus, today’s ATCA-based products are achieving energy savings of up to 60 percent over their TDM predecessors,” Richardson affirms.

By enhancing track to train communications these operators in Algeria and Lithuania are making rail services safer, more efficient and more competitive. This in turn is helping people and businesses to choose railways over less environmentally friendly modes of transport such as buses, road and short-haul aviation.

The choice of a Nortel solution by forward-thinking operators such as Algerian Railways (SNTF) and LitRail proves that GSM-R market leader Nortel continues to offer solutions that provide a combination of cost and communications efficiency along with the ability to grow the communications network as traffic increases. In addition, Nortel’s solution delivers the benefits of energy efficiency which translate into significant power consumption reductions.

Nortel won two best in show awards at the October 2008 Advanced TCA Summit ** in Santa Clara, California for platforms based on Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) standards. The Nortel All-IP Next Generation Mobile Switching Center (MSC), the industry’s only softswitch solution providing GSM and CDMA operators with a carrier-grade ATCA-compliant computing platform, received the Best Unique Customer Applications Award. Nortel’s Versatile Service Engine (VSE) was selected as best infrastructure product.

About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel’s technologies are designed to help eliminate today’s barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they need it. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries around the world. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com . For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news .

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