Alcatel Hosts Complimentary Enterprise Technology Seminar Series for IT Professionals.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2003

Seminar Entitled "Building Carrier-Class IP Networks"

Will Be Held in Major U.S. Cities across the Country

Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) today announced that its next free seminar series, designed to educate IT professionals, will be focused on carrier-class networking and its importance to enterprise networks. The seminars will be hosted at various locations across the country from now through June.

Alcatel principal technologists will discuss how to design and build carrier-class enterprise networks that support mission-critical applications and IP communications. The educational seminar will include discussions on technologies such as wireless LANs, DHCP and LDAP, Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, as well as the differences among features such as redundancy, resiliency and availability and why these are important to enterprise networks.

Additionally, seminar attendees will benefit from hearing real customer examples of how technologies were deployed in various network environments, including vertical applications with specific examples in government and education networks. The seminar will conclude with a showcase of Alcatel's IP communications solutions and will include a live demo of the new OmniSwitch family.

"Alcatel continues to receive positive feedback from seminar attendees," said Tom Wilburn, GM, Alcatel's North America Enterprise Business. "The company believes it is important to educate IT professionals in the telecommunications industry on the issues confronting them and help them differentiate the hype from reality regarding new technologies."

Last year, Alcatel was the only major networking vendor to announce a new family of carrier-class LAN switches, providing high-availability for enterprises requiring a multi-service infrastructure for mission-critical and VoIP applications. The new OmniSwitch family is designed to provide a consistent set of carrier-class features from the core to the edge of the enterprise network.

To register for Alcatel's 2003 seminar series or to obtain additional information on locations, please visit Alcatel Seminars: http://alcatel.emark1.com/q12003_intro.asp?FORM=Q1_PRESSR

2003 Seminar dates/locations for February and March are as follows:

    Feb. 4   -  Pittsburgh, PA
    Feb. 6   -  New York, NY
    Feb. 11  -  Washington DC
    Feb. 13  -  Atlanta, GA
    Feb. 25  -  Seattle, WA
    Feb. 27  -  San Mateo, CA
    Mar. 6   -  Houston, TX
    Mar. 11  -  Irvine, CA
    Mar. 13  -  Boston, MA
    Mar. 18  -  Denver, CO
    Mar. 20  -  Detroit, MI

About Alcatel enterprise networking solutions

About Alcatel enterprise networking solutions Alcatel delivers standards-based IP communications solutions to a global customer base of over 500,000 small, medium and large enterprises, government agencies, healthcare facilities, and educational institutions. Alcatel's award-winning Omni family of IP Communications solutions consists of an extensive portfolio of network switching infrastructure products and IP telephony products built to provide long-term value.

About Alcatel

Alcatel designs, develops and builds innovative and competitive communications networks, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver any type of content, such as voice, data and multimedia, to any type of consumer, anywhere in the world. Relying on its leading and comprehensive products and solutions portfolio, stretching from end-to-end optical infrastructures, fixed and mobile networks to broadband access, Alcatel's customers can focus on optimizing their service offerings and revenue streams. With sales of $22 billion in 2001, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. In 2001, the United States was the largest single market served by Alcatel. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com.