Cities, Municipalities Reinvent Government Communications With Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet; Create Simple, Affordable Networks for Connected Communities, eGovernment Services.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2002

Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT) today announced several deployments of its Optical Ethernet solution by local governments and municipalities looking to leverage technology to create 'connected' communities and provide secure, on-line information and services to their citizens. The City of St. Hyancinthe, Quebec; the City of Roanoke, Virginia; and the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin are the latest cities to have deployments underway or completed.

"Governments are looking for ways to use technology for new eGovernment applications and to link government, businesses and citizens together, locally, regionally, and globally," said Marco Pagani, president, Optical Ethernet, Nortel Networks. "Gone are the days when the only way to get what you need from the public sector was to stand in line during limited business hours. For federal, state and local governments, the Internet has provided a chance to reinvent the way they do business."

"Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet solution combines the affordability of Ethernet with the high capacity and reliability of optics to provide a secure network infrastructure -- ideal for eGovernment initiatives," Pagani said.

Government organizations can leverage Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet technology to deliver new eGovernment services to their citizens -- from paying parking tickets online to accessing sophisticated Geographical Information System data for land surveys and appraisals, much as the City of Roanoke is doing.

Others, like the City of Milwaukee, are deploying an Optical Ethernet solution to build a health and safety network focused on improving communication between emergency organizations.

The City of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec is deploying Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet solution with the local school board to build a connected community that brings all its municipal organizations together to better meet the needs of its citizens.

"Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet solution will enable us to make the best use of tax dollars," said Christian Lemire, director, Purchasing Department, City of St. Hyancinthe. "We will be able to fully leverage our IT resources and reduce overall operation costs by converging multiple voice and data networks."

The greater St. Hyacinthe area is in the process of linking together 120 sites for an 80,000-person community, including schools, city government, fire stations, medical clinics, and libraries. The municipal organizations pooled their IT resources together to create a simple, high-performance Optical Ethernet network that would better meet the needs of all organizations.

The City of St. Hyacinthe has deployed Nortel Networks Passport 8600 Routing Switches and Business Policy Switches to provide high-speed Internet access and information sharing. In addition, the city will use the network's additional speed and capacity to add new applications in the future, like distance learning and video conferencing.

Nortel Networks has also successfully deployed Optical Ethernet networks for other municipal government organizations, including the City of Charlottesville, Virginia and the City of Daytona Beach, Florida.

In December, Nortel Networks announced that the City of Daytona Beach deployed its Optical Ethernet solution to streamline the city's communication and public safety operations over a converged network and to increase network capacity to accommodate the city's many special events. Since then, Daytona Beach has rolled out additional high-speed data and voice services on its Optical Ethernet network by deploying fiber to homes and businesses throughout the city. Daytona Beach offers a 40 megabit per second service with adjustable bandwidth, giving customers the ability to request additional bandwidth at specific times. The City of Daytona Beach is also giving back to the community by working with a local college to provide these services to lower-income homes to enable distance learning and remote training.

Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the world communicates and exchanges information. The company is supplying its service provider and enterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline Networks, Enterprise Networks and Optical Networks. As a global company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on the Web at www.nortelnetworks.com.

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