CHICAGO, June 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP.PA) today announced the North American introduction of the Alcatel 1850 Transport Service Switch (TSS), the next-generation metro networking platform offering a 100% flexible mix of Ethernet, TDM and WDM in a single platform. The Alcatel 1850 TSS provides North American service providers with a powerful architecture to address the transition from circuit- based to packet-based transport infrastructures. The product is being showcased at the Alcatel booth (# 51018) at Globalcomm taking place in Chicago from June 4 to 8, 2006. The Alcatel 1850 TSS, was awarded "Best New Product" of 2005 by Light Reading and is already gaining traction in the market with tier one operators. Alcatel is currently engaged with nearly 20 service providers in both ETSI markets and North America -- including active trials and paying customers. "Carriers' plans to migrate their existing transport network infrastructures to a design optimized around IP and Ethernet technologies are well underway, with over 60% of operators polls indicating they are currently transitioning to Ethernet transport or will begin in 2006," said Scott Clavenna, chief analyst at Heavy Reading. "This process is creating a significant market opportunity for transport systems that gracefully enable this transition, preserving the robustness of SONET/SDH while adding the flexibility of IP and Ethernet." Designed around a revolutionary 'Universal Switch' technology developed by Alcatel, the Alcatel 1850 TSS is the industry's first platform that can be used to aggregate, switch and transport any combination of Ethernet/MPLS/RPR, SONET/SDH and WDM services. In service provider networks, the 1850 TSS can provide CAPEX savings of more than 30 percent and OPEX savings of more than 40 percent, compared to alternative architectures based on separate platforms. "The availability of the Alcatel 1850 TSS further demonstrates Alcatel's commitment to addressing the evolving networking needs of North American service providers as they seamlessly transition their networks from TDM to packet," said Steven Pickett, senior vice president and general manager of Alcatel's optical networking activities in North America. "We are excited to deliver the industry's first product that creates significant cost savings by converging multiple network elements into a single, scalable platform." As an integral part of Alcatel's triple play and convergence networking solutions, the Alcatel 1850 TSS is suitable for both carrier and private optical networks. Integrated under the Alcatel 1350 cross-layer management suite, the Alcatel 1850 TSS is initially available in North America in the 100 Gbit/s chassis size. About Alcatel Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com/ . DATASOURCE: Alcatel CONTACT: press, Charlie Guyer, +1-978-257-3490, or , or investor relations, Pascal Bantegnie, +33-0-1-40-76-52-20, or , or Nicolas Leyssieux, +33-0-1-40-76-37-32, or , or Maria Alcon, +33-0-1-40-76-15-17, or , or Charlotte Laurent- Ottomane, +1-703-668-7016, or , all of Alcatel Web site: http://www.alcatel.com/ http://www.globalcomm2006.com/

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