Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nortel, MIT, BIT to Trial Breakthrough WLAN Architecture

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 15:27:56 -0500

Nortel, MIT, BIT to Trial Breakthrough WLAN Architecture

Nortel Networks is going to trial a breakthrough wireless local area
network (WLAN) architecture with Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and British Telecommunications (BT). The trial, is
designed to help significantly reduce costs (up to 70 percent for
backhaul and up to 75 percent for installation and commissioning) for
transport of high-speed wireless data from Wi-Fi networks to wired
broadband networks. The trial will go beyond traditional 'hot spots' to
provide broader, more convenient service coverage for enterprises and
individual users and to help service providers drive increased revenue
opportunities.

==========================================================================

October 29, 2003 09:05 AM US Eastern Timezone

Nortel Networks Announces Plans to Trial Breakthrough Wireless LAN
Architecture with MIT and BT

OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 2003--

Innovative Wireless Technology to Eliminate Boundaries While Driving
Lower Wi-Fi Costs by Up to 70 Percent for Backhauls and Up to 75 Percent
for Installation and Commissioning

Building on its recently announced "Business Without Boundaries" vision,
Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT) today announced plans to trial its new
public wireless LAN (local area network) architecture with MIT
(Massachusetts Institute of
Technology) and BT (British Telecommunications plc). The technology is
designed to help drive significantly reduced costs for transport of
high-speed wireless data from Wi-Fi networks to wired broadband
networks.

The concept behind the new architecture originated as an experimental
development following a series of collaborative discussions between
Nortel Networks and MIT. Nortel Networks new network architecture for
public wireless LANs is expected
to help service providers drive cost reductions of up to 70 percent for
backhaul and up to 75 percent for installation and commissioning
according to Nortel Networks estimates.

"The challenge of adapting simple, low-cost radio technologies like
Wi-Fi to extend commercial public networks is not trivial," said
Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and chairman of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Media Lab. "Public
telecommunications is approaching a renaissance with incorporation of
innovative technologies like those Nortel Networks and MIT are trialing.
Tomorrow's distributed, flexible communications networks will look very
different from the centralized,
highly-engineered networks of today."

Nortel Networks new public wireless LAN architecture is designed to go
beyond traditional 'hot spots' to provide broader, more convenient
service coverage for enterprises and individual users, and to help
service providers drive increased revenue
opportunities.

An outgrowth of 'peer-to-peer' and 'ad hoc' networking research at
Nortel Networks Ottawa Wireless Technology Lab, the new public wireless
LAN architecture includes a peer-to-peer access point architecture -
with smart antennas, integrated
routers, and adaptive routing and security capabilities - to backhaul
data wirelessly to wired broadband networks. This minimizes the need for
expensive wired backhaul connections like T1 lines.

"Nortel Networks is one of the industry's most innovative wireless data
network providers with a very strong heritage in public and private
networking," said Pascal Debon, president, Wireless Networks, Nortel
Networks. "Today's announcements
demonstrate our vision of converging public and private networks and
positioning enterprises and service providers to create a seamless and
highly efficient experience that will deliver mobile broadband and
advanced data services to end users."

Nortel Networks and BT have jointly proposed a trial of the technology
with BT and one of its leading enterprise customers.

"We're delighted to be partnering with Nortel Networks, with whom we
already work closely in the Enterprise market, to test this new
technology as it reflects the increased demand we are experiencing in
our customer base for mobile and flexible
working solutions," said Chris New, director, Finance Industry
Solutions, BT. "The proposed trial allows us to continue to lead the way
in the mobility convergence marketplace and present our customers with
increased productivity and
convenience by providing access any time, any place, any where."

Virtual Private Networking (VPN), Internet browsing, e-mail, multimedia
messaging, personal messaging, and other advanced services virtually
'any time, any where' via laptop computers, PDAs (personal digital
assistants) and wireless handsets
are expected to be the focus of the jointly proposed Nortel Networks and
BT trial.

Nortel Networks will also trial the technology with the MIT Media Lab at
MIT's campus in Boston. During this trial, MIT students, staff and
visitors will have the ability to connect to the Internet, send and
receive e-mail, and access MIT campus files

and content securely from any location with any device. In addition, the
MIT Media Lab plans to trial future wireless data services and
applications created by MIT Media Lab staff and students. Applications
will include the use of wireless networks
to allow collaboration among intelligent devices and their users.

Nortel Networks is a founding sponsor of the Media Lab, and currently
sponsors the Media Lab's Digital Life research consortium.

Nortel Networks expects that the MIT trial and the jointly proposed BT
and Nortel Networks trial are expected to be completed in early 2004.

"Today's announcement is a testament to our vision for the industry and
our strategy of removing barriers to efficiency, productivity, and
growth, and creating opportunities for new revenues and services," Debon
said. "We're breaking new ground
and leading a new wireless data era by providing our customers
innovative technology that will help drive profits and position them to
offer a compelling wireless broadband solution to enterprise and end
users alike."

As part of Nortel Networks Business Without Boundaries vision, this
architecture is designed to provide the appropriate level of network
access and security while supporting the unrestricted mobility of end
users, regardless of where and how they
access the network. It will incorporate 'auto discovery' and 'self
healing' algorithms to simplify deployment and reduce service outages by
optimizing radio link communications and minimizing interference. In
addition, the self-organizing nature of
the architecture removes the need for RF engineering or commissioning,
enabling installation in any location where power is available,
significantly increasing the reach of wireless LAN coverage.

Infrastructure equipment being used in the trials are expected to
include Nortel Networks Wireless Mesh Network solution, which includes
Wireless Access Point 7220, Wireless Gateway 7250, Nortel Networks
Optivity Network Management
System, and related network management elements.

This is the third announcement in Nortel Networks wireless LAN rollout,
building on the December 2002 announcement of Nortel Networks capability
to link wireless WAN (wide area networks) and wireless LANs securely,
thus allowing users to
roam seamlessly between 2G/3G networks and wireless hot spots with a
single user sign-on. The new products complement Nortel Networks
award-winning WLAN 2200 Series, introduced in March 2003, which provide
a complete, end-to-end
wireless networking solution for enterprise campus environments, serving
as an extension of the wired communications infrastructure. With the
introduction of the Wireless 7200 series, service providers and
enterprises have a solution for areas
that do not, or cannot, support a wired backhaul offering.

BT

BT Group plc is the listed holding company for an integrated group of
businesses providing voice, data and video services in the UK and
elsewhere in Europe. British Telecommunications plc, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of BT Group, holds virtually
all businesses and assets of the BT group.

BT is one of Europe's leading providers of telecommunications services.
Its principal activities include local, national and international
telecommunications services, higher-value broadband and internet
products and services, and IT solutions. In the

UK, BT serves over 20 million business and residential customers with
more than 29 million exchange lines, as well as providing network
services to other licensed operators.

BT consists principally of three lines of business:

-- BT Retail, serving businesses and residential customers and including
BT Openworld, one of the UK's leading ISPs.

-- BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK,
including ADSL, conveyance, transit, bulk delivery of private circuits,
frame relay and ISDN connections.

-- BT Global Services, BT's managed services and solutions provider,
serving multi-site organisations worldwide. Its core target market is
the top 10,000 global multi-site organisations with European operations.

There are a number of other businesses within the BT group, including BT
Exact, an internationally renowned centre of excellence in IT and
networking technologies. It is also BT's technology and research and
development business.

In the year ended 31 March 2003, BT's turnover was GBP 18,727m. with
profit before taxation of GBP 1,829m.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031029005392&newsLang=en

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