GTE Internetworking to Trial Nationwide Purely Photonic Network with Ultra-Long-Haul Equipment from Qtera Corporation

BALTIMORE, March 7 /PRNewswire/ - Qtera Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nortel Networks (NYSE/TSE:NT), today announced an agreement with GTE Internetworking, a unit of GTE (NYSE:GTE), one of the world s largest telecommunications companies and a leading provider of integrated voice, video and data services, to begin joint field trials of ultra-long haul DWDM backbone equipment from Qtera. The field trials are an integral part of GTE Internetworking s efforts to expand nationwide bandwidth availability through the introduction of state-of-the-art technologies.

GTE Internetworking will kick off its initiative with a field trial of the Qtera equipment in the third quarter of this year. The trial will run across GTE Internetworking s Atlanta to Washington D.C. route, with an intermediate node in Charlotte, N.C. for 100 percent optical add/drop multiplexing. The field trial system will carry multiple 10 Gbps channels over 1550 km. The Qtera technology promises dramatically reduced capital and operating costs, simplified network architectures, rapid wavelength provisioning and tremendously greater bandwidth compared to today s optical networks.

"We recognize the drastic need for a data-centric network that can better handle ultra-high-capacity services like the Internet," said Steve Blumenthal, vice president and general manager of Global Infrastructure for GTE Internetworking. "After evaluating technologies from a number of vendors, we believe Qtera has the potential to be a key partner in our efforts to build a purely photonic backbone that will lower the cost of high-bandwidth services, improve Internet reliability and speed up the time it takes to turn up new services for our customers."

Qtera, a leading developer of photonic networking solutions for the backbone of the Optical Internet, will provide a complete turn-key, ultra-long-haul optical networking solution including equipment, installation and support. Qtera s photonic networking system, consisting of optical amplifiers, terminals and gateways, will be manufactured at its state-of-the-art factory in Boca Raton.

"We re extremely excited by this opportunity to work with GTE Internetworking to further validate our technology," said Fahri Diner, president and founder of Qtera. "Top-tier Internet companies like GTE Internetworking face tremendous pressure to continually expand network capacity while improving quality and containing costs. The unique ability of the Qtera platform to combine speed and distance - terabits over megameters - yields significant operational benefits to carriers like GTE Internetworking, including affordable, abundant bandwidth, survivability at the optical layer and rapid wavelength provisioning to ensure rapid response to customer demands for new high-capacity services."

The Qtera technology transports signals up to 4000 km or 2500 miles without opto-electronic regeneration, resulting in significant savings in capital equipment and operating costs. The Qtera solutions operate at 10 Gbps, the optimum rate for today s high-performance Optical Internet.

"We re looking forward to working with GTE Internetworking because our solution is so ideal for their network topology," stated Dr. Sri Nathan, vice president of Network Architecture for Qtera Corporation. "The purely photonic Qtera platform allows carriers like GTE Internetworking to protect their current infrastructure investment and migrate bandwidth-hungry data services to a more efficient, cost-effective network."

About GTE Internetworking

GTE Internetworking, a unit of GTE Corporation (NYSE:GTE), offers business enterprise and service providers a full spectrum of integrated Internet services using IP networking technologies. GTE Internetworking delivers complete E-business infrastructure solutions including network solutions, dial-up and dedicated Internet access, high-performance Web hosting, virtual private networks (VPNs), managed Internet security, network management, and systems integration for integrating the Internet into business operations. Additional information about GTE Internetworking can be found on the Internet at http://www.bbn.com, and about GTE Corp. at http://www.gte.com.

About Qtera and Nortel Networks

Qtera Corporation, headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., is a wholly owned subsidiary and the newest division of Nortel Networks Optical business. Qtera s solutions provide a greatly simplified, purely photonic backbone for the Optical Internet. For more information on Qtera, please visit http://www.qtera.com

Nortel Networks is a global leader in telephony, data, eBusiness, and wireless solutions for the Internet. The Company had 1999 U.S. GAAP revenues of US$21.3 billion and serves carrier, service provider and enterprise customers globally. Today, Nortel Networks is creating a high-performance Internet that is more reliable and faster than ever before. It is redefining the economics and quality of networking and the Internet through Unified Networks that promise a new era of collaboration, communications and commerce. Visit us at www.nortelnetworks.com

SOURCE Nortel Networks Corporation

CONTACT:
Media Relations:
Joey Nord, Nortel Networks, (770) 708-5059, joeynord@nortelnetworks.com;
Investor Relations, Nortel Networks, (905) 863-6049,
investor@nortelnetworks.com;
Jill Layman, Qtera Corporation, (561) 999-4242,
layman@qtera.com ;
Vaughn Harring, GTE Internetworking, (781) 262-4659,
vharring@bbnplanet.com

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