Unified Communications for SMBs: Business Communications Manager

New Solution Offers Time and Cost-Saving Unified Communications Features, Saving up to 70 percent of Prior Product Investments

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(MARKET WIRE)--Oct 8, 2008 -- A new solution from Nortel(1) (Toronto:NT.TO - News)(NT - News) makes it easier for medium-sized businesses with up to 300 employees to evolve to unified communications. By connecting people faster, improving collaboration and speeding up the time to decision, Nortel estimates that unified communications can help businesses realize cost-savings and an increase in productivity of up to 18 percent.

Available globally October 14, the Business Communications Manager (BCM) 450 speeds the transition from legacy digital equipment and can enable firms to save up to 70 percent of their original investment by reusing existing equipment.

"Deploying Nortel's BCM450 has enabled a cost-effective evolution to unified communications and will drive improved productivity across our 10 locations," said Paul Evans, executive vice president, EBA Engineering. "We were able to leverage a large portion of our original Norstar investment while evolving to new unified communications capabilities. The networking and unified communications features of BCM portfolio have driven efficiencies within our team by allowing us to better connect and collaborate between our multiple sites and mobile workforce."

"Customers can increase the velocity of business operations by bringing people together faster for efficient and effective collaboration," said Joel Hackney, president, Enterprise Solutions, Nortel. "The BCM450 accelerates the move to unified communications, enabling medium-sized businesses to gain a competitive edge in an environment where speed, simplicity and savings are integral to success."

Nortel's new offering expands the reach of its award-winning BCM portfolio - a suite of Hybrid-IP solutions, built with unified communications functionality, each designed to meet the needs of different sized small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). By offering capacity for up to 300 users, the BCM450 positions Nortel to better serve the larger user segment of the global SMB communications market. According to Nortel projections, the worldwide SMB communications market is valued at US$11 billion and growing at a rate of 9.3 percent annually.

Nortel's SMB portfolio was evaluated five out of five by industry analyst firm Gartner in its Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications report.(2) Furthermore, market research firm Dell'Oro ranks Nortel number one for the first and second quarters of 2008 based on number of Hybrid-IP lines shipped globally.

The BCM450 is available from Nortel, or through its strategic vendors, including AT&T.

"AT&T has a long history of working with Nortel to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses with the BCM portfolio - one which has become synonymous with reliability, performance and applications tailored for the unique needs of this market," said Mark Keiffer, president, regional business markets, AT&T. "This new solution will enable these firms to realize time and cost-savings benefits."

The unified communications features of the BCM450 include:

- Unified messaging, consolidating voice, fax and e-mail messages onto a single device.

- Message forwarding, available in one to two months, which sends voicemails and faxes to the most convenient desktop or mobile device. For workers on the move, this can save long distance and roaming charges when retrieving messages.

- Meet-Me Conferencing that can establish teleconferences for up to 120 participants. This can eliminate the need for external services and reduce teleconferencing expenses.

- Computer Telephony Integration, which allows the use of third-party applications to control telephone services, such as click-to-call or automatic screen "pop" with customer information when they call.

- Intelligent Contact Center functionality, which quickly directs clients to the right contact.

Also, SIP compliance provides the foundation for expansion of the solution's unified communications functionality with applications developed by third-parties certified by the Nortel Developer Program.

The BCM450 also helps businesses save on energy costs. A BCM450 solution can save up to 40 percent in energy costs compared to a similar offering from the competition.(3)

The flexibility inherent in the BCM450 allows it to adapt as businesses grow or as priorities shift. The solution comes loaded with hundreds of telephony features and integrated applications that can be activated without installing additional expensive hardware. Capacity for 300 users provides for easy scalability and customization can be accomplished with applications from third-party developers.

A robust and resilient data network provides the foundation for organizations to get the most out of unified communications features. The BCM450 can be effectively paired with the networking capabilities of the BSG8 and BSG12, announced today. The BSG combines multiple components and software into a single solution, which Nortel estimates is up to 45 percent less expensive than purchasing all of these elements separately.

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.

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.

(1) Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.

(2) Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications, Bern Elliot, September 16, 2008. The Critical Capabilities report is copyrighted 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Critical Capabilities report is a comparative analysis which scores competing products against a set of critical differentiators identified by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Critical Capabilities report, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose

(3) Based on Nortel's internal test results conducted in August 2008 comparing the energy consumption in the laboratory of a BCM450 with 150 phones and seven 4526T-PWR (NA PC) with the published energy consumption figures provided in data sheets of comparably equipped and configured competitive products.

Contacts:
     Nortel
     David Salvatore
     (613) 765-6807
     Email: davidsa@nortel.com
     Website: http://www.nortel.com