Alcatel Builds Alliance With Comforce to Provide Convergence Solutions for East Coast Market; Comforce Signs on as Alcatel Business Partner in North America.

Business Editors

WOODBURY, N.Y. & CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001

Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) today announced that Comforce Telecom, a division of Comforce Corp. (Amex:CFS), will sell, install and maintain the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 and Omni family of voice and data products for enterprise networks.

For more than a decade, Comforce's Telecom group has been providing customers with a broad range of telecom staffing, consulting and outsourcing services ranging from customer premise equipment implementation to help desk support.

Comforce Telecom is well known in the Northeast market as a value added reseller of voice and data solutions including: PBXs, telecom products, cabling infrastructure, contracted technicians and LAN networking technologies.

"Comforce Telecom was looking for a partner that would enable us to more effectively utilize our existing nationwide infrastructure, and who could provide a high end, convergence platform for all market segments," said Kevin O'Brien, director of New York sales for Comforce Telecom. "We were attracted to Alcatel because of its world leadership positions in high-speed access and transmission, and the international acceptance of the OmniPCX 4400 for its superior voice-over-IP technology."

As an Alcatel Business Partner, Comforce Telecom is authorized to sell, service, install, maintain and provide technical support for Alcatel's entire line of voice and data convergence products to medium and large enterprises.

The award-winning Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 and Omni family of voice and data products are designed to support the rapidly converging worlds of voice and data while enabling enterprise users to migrate to an IP-based voice and data network at their own pace.

"Comforce's expertise ranges from installing simple voice and data solutions to complete, full-time, on-site services and complex systems for customers such as city governments and Fortune financial companies," said Jack Sorci, Alcatel vice president, North American channel sales. "With over 125 field engineers and technical specialists in the New York Metropolitan area alone, Comforce is a great addition to the Alcatel Business Partner program."

About the Omni Family of Convergence-Ready Network Solutions

Alcatel's award-winning Omni family of networking solutions meets the needs of enterprises converging voice and data networks. Based on a client/server UNIX architecture, the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 is a hybrid IP-PBX that supports scalability from 50 to 50,000 users, innovative Reflexes telephone handsets, 99.999 percent reliability, one-number mobility, unified messaging and voice-over IP networking.

Alcatel's Omni-family of data switches and Secure VPN solutions provide the network foundation that supports the quality of service, security, and management requirements of converged networks.

About Comforce

Comforce Corp. provides specialty staffing, consulting and outsourcing services primarily to Fortune 500 companies for their information technology, telecommunications, and scientific and engineering-related needs.

The company operates in three business segments -- Staff Augmentation, Human Capital Management and Financial Services. The Staff Augmentation segment provides Information Technology (IT), Telecom, Medical Office Support, LabForce, Call Center Operations and other Staffing services.

The Human Capital Management Services segment, through PrO Unlimited, provides consulting services for managing its clients' contingent workforces. The Financial Services segment provides payroll, funding and outsourcing services to independent consulting and staffing companies. Comforce has 62 offices nationwide.

For more information on Comforce Corp., visit http://www.comforce.com.

About Alcatel

Alcatel builds next-generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 130,000 employees and sales of $29 billion (EURO 31 billion) in 2000, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com.