Alcatel Invests $15 Million in General Bandwidth; Investment Strengthens Relationship in FTTP and VoIP Deployments.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2004 General Bandwidth Inc., of Austin, Texas, today announced that Alcatel (Paris: CGEP CGEP Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (Virginia) CGEP Center for Gifted Education Policy .PA) (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :ALA) has invested U.S. $15 million in General Bandwidth. The investment further strengthens the three-year OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and relationship between the two companies and allows for additional development enhancements to their joint Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP (Fiber To The Premises) The installation of optical fiber from the carrier directly into the home or office. Also called "fiber to the home" (FTTH). See PON and FTTC. See also FTP. ) and VoIP offerings. In December 2003, SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) announced a four-year primary supplier agreement with Alcatel for SBC's FTTP initiative. As part of that supplier agreement, General Bandwidth provides the packetized voice The transmission of real time voice in a packet switching network. technology to Alcatel for the SBC deployments. "Alcatel has a long-standing relationship with General Bandwidth and this investment further aligns our mutual goals," stated Mike Dobbs, Alcatel's Senior Vice President, Access Networks for North America. "This investment is yet another validation of the FTTP opportunity, and Alcatel and General Bandwidth are well-positioned to provide the best possible solution for service providers and their subscribers," said Brendon Mills, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and President of General Bandwidth. "In addition, the investment also helps to fuel General Bandwidth's continuing development of VoIP products and services." About Alcatel Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.5 billion in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. www.alcatel.com About General Bandwidth General Bandwidth provides "Solutions for a VoIP World" with deployments across more than 36 domestic and international customers enabling applications such as IP Centrex, VoIP business services, and PacketCable(tm) cable telephony. General Bandwidth's flagship product, the G6(R) VoIP Media Gateway, delivers high quality, full-featured voice services over a wide variety of packet architectures, including T1, DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary , hybrid fiber coax (networking) Hybrid Fiber Coax - (HFC) A kind of physical connection used in networks for audio, video, and data. DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) is used in Europe and DOCSIS is used in N America. (HFC 1. (networking) HFC - Hybrid Fiber Coax. 2. (hardware) HFC - hydrofluorocarbon. ), and FTTP. With the capability to simultaneously support voice services from next generation softswitches and Class 5 switches, the G6 platform is a highly scalable, fully redundant, and very flexible service platform from which new voice and media features can be deployed. www.genband.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements. The words "will," "plan," "anticipate," "expect," "intend," "believe" and similar expressions referring to the future or events to occur in the future are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding projections, strategies or anticipated benefits arising from the investment also constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect Alcatel's current views with respect to future events and are based on information currently available to Alcatel. These statements are not guarantees of true results, performance or achievement and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those matters specifically discussed herein, general economic conditions, conditions in the telecommunications industry, and matters discussed in Alcatel's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These and other factors may cause Alcatel's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Alcatel does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release. |
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