Alcatel Joins ADSL Consortium at the University of New Hampshire; University's Interoperability Testing Lab to Expedite Mass Market ADSL Deployment.

PLANO, Texas and DURHAM, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1999--

Fueling the momentum of mass market ADSL deployment, Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) has joined the ADSL Consortium at the University of New Hampshire's InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). Alcatel, the worldwide leader in ADSL solutions, is providing ADSL equipment and technical support to help resolve interoperability challenges within the lab's multi-vendor testing environment.

Announcing its membership at Networld+Interop (booth No. 4461), Alcatel's contribution to the lab validates its ongoing commitment to ADSL deployment through seamless access solutions. The university provides an independent testing environment where members of the ADSL Consortium are conducting detailed interoperability testing of ADSL equipment with one another. Members are able to work together in common surroundings to share information and mutually benefit from the interoperability test results.

"We are very pleased to have Alcatel's ADSL expertise and leadership in the InterOperability Laboratory," said Scott Valcourt, ADSL Consortium Manager for the UNH-IOL. "The laboratory provides an independent setting where engineers come to examine interoperability issues and solve problems in common surroundings. Companies using the laboratory will generate enormous gains from mutual interoperability testing and provide an invaluable education to our students."

In today's multi-vendor environment, service providers want to know that their central office and customer premise equipment (CPE) will be compatible, reliable, and work together seamlessly to deliver subscribers high-speed data and Internet services. Rapid resolution of interoperability issues is expected to foster product innovation and enable true mass-market deployment.

"Alcatel's presence at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory will help enable the mass market for ADSL service," said by Mike Dobbs, Vice President and General Manager, US ADSL Business Unit, Alcatel. "Providing the ADSL Consortium participants with ready access to the industry's leading ADSL equipment will speed up availability of interoperable products with our CPE and DSLAM equipment."

Alcatel's ADSL equipment is already in place at the UNH-IOL. Its use is subject to the scheduling terms and membership requirements of the UNH-IOL Charter.

Alcatel's ADSL Expertise

Alcatel holds over 35 percent of the ADSL market worldwide and over 50 percent in the US. Alcatel has been supplying industry-standard end-to-end ADSL solutions since 1995. Alcatel's US presence includes deployment by Ameritech, BellSouth, SBC Communications, and Bell Atlantic. Alcatel's worldwide customer base includes Singapore Telecom, PT Telecom of Indonesia, Telia in Sweden, BT, Bell Canada, Belgacom, Telefonica in Spain, France Telecom, Telecom Italia plus successful implementations in ADSL networks in China, Korea, Japan and Denmark.

Alcatel's xDSL solutions are fully scaleable and are available on a variety of service platforms, including line cards for the Alcatel Litespan(R) Digital Loop Carrier (DLC); a high-density central office Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM); and compact, environmentally hardened mini-DSLAM packages used for low-density subscriber DLC situations. All Alcatel xDSL service platforms are fully NEBS (Level 3) compliant and integrate seamlessly into service provider networks. Recently Alcatel announced its SPEED TOUCH(TM) product line of ADSL Customer Premises Equipment with guaranteed high performance, reliability and interoperability which will be distributed both direct and via third party channels.

The University of New Hampshire is the land, sea and space grant public university of the State of New Hampshire. The InterOperability Laboratory, founded in 1988, serves to educate students in computer communications technology and to foster interoperability within the 14 industry groups involved in the laboratory. Over 100 worldwide companies are members of the UNH InterOperability Laboratory. For more information, visit the UNH InterOperability Laboratory at http://www.iol.unh.edu.

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 billion ($25.0 billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on Internet: http:/www.alcatel.com. For more information, visit Alcatel at http://www.alcatel.com or the US Web site at www.usa.alcatel.com. Contact for Alcatel Investor Relations, (US) Michael Haase, 972/519-6855, [e-mail].