Enhances Integration Expertise With Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Status

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Nortel(1) (TSX: NT) (NYSE: NT) has added 11 core integration services and a structured convergence integration approach for customers - featuring regional collaboration centers jointly staffed and operated with Microsoft(1) - to its growing portfolio of services designed to help ease the path to unified communications for businesses around the world.

In addition, Nortel has enhanced its proven deployment expertise in real-time IP and unified communications by achieving Microsoft's elite Gold Certified Partner status.

These new services and resources will make it easier for businesses to break down barriers between voice, e-mail, instant messaging, multimedia conferencing and other forms of communication, enabling them to improve business processes, increase collaboration among employees, and speed decision making.

They were announced today at a customer event in New York City hosted by Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer, Microsoft, and Mike Zafirovski, president and chief executive officer, Nortel.

"Nortel Global Services provide a complete, end-to-end solution, making it very simple for businesses to realize the benefits of unified communications," said Dietmar Wendt, president Global Services, Nortel. "Customers gain immediate access to a wealth of experience in design and deployment with limited investment in people and capital. Very few companies have this level of expertise, a real competitive differentiator for Nortel."

The expanded integration services portfolio spans the entire network lifecycle from design and deployment to support and evolution. Services available today include IT business consulting to help analyze alternatives and create business cases; VoIP, data network and security assessments to determine network readiness; network and security design; Nortel Communication Server 1000 implementation; Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 configuration; dialing plan modification; program management; and on-going technical support.

These services are delivered by a staff of more than 2,200 Nortel VoIP experts worldwide that will be expanded as unified communications deployments ramp up. They are supported by the 10,000-strong Nortel Global Services team and a global ecosystem of services partners.

Ballmer and Zafirovski also detailed a structured convergence integration approach featuring a worldwide network of Innovative Communications Alliance Collaboration Centers. These regional centers will offer hands-on design and proof-of-concept workshops to help customers evaluate the technology and understand how it can meet business needs. The first two are open for business in Raleigh, N.C. and Maidenhead in the U.K. Nortel plans to open two additional centers by year-end 2007.

"By combining facilities for multi-vendor systems integration with resources and expert staff from both Microsoft and Nortel, these centers can help enterprises plan their transition to unified communications faster, seamlessly and more cost-effectively," Wendt said.

To achieve Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status, Nortel proved its knowledge, skills and commitment to helping implement unified communications solutions tailored to individual customer needs by meeting or exceeding the highest performance criteria and demonstrating robust, efficient and scalable customer implementations of Microsoft technology.

Nortel's worldwide ecosystem of services partners leverages the expertise of industry leaders like Microsoft and HP to provide comprehensive enterprise business communications solutions.

A lead Nortel partner in unified communications since 2005, HP provides extensive applications integration experience, and is working closely with Microsoft and Nortel in bringing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system to market.

"Working together across IT departments, we can simplify the move to unified communications with innovative solutions for IT infrastructure, IP call management, conferencing, e-mail, unified messaging, mobility, and desktop and notebook services," said Robb Rasmussen, vice president, Portfolio, Marketing and Alliances, HP Services. "This makes it easier for enterprises to increase collaboration and productivity across individuals, teams and organizations."
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