Contact Information: Contact: Mark Buford Nortel 972-362-1512 Email Contact Chris Whalen Fortress Technologies 813-288-7388 Email Contact A.J. Guenther ConnellyWorks, Inc. 703-721-0541 Email Contact
Nortel Government Solutions Signs Reseller Agreement With Fortress Technologies
Adds DISA, FIPS-Compliant Wireless Solutions for Government Customers
| Source: Fortress Technologies, Inc.
TAMPA, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 13, 2007 -- Nortel* Government Solutions*, a U.S. company
wholly owned by Nortel (NYSE : NT ) (TSX : NT ), has expanded its portfolio of
secure networking products and integration services by agreeing to resell
certified wireless solutions from Fortress Technologies, a leader in secure
wireless networking.
These solutions comply with U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) and Federal Information
Processing Standards (FIPS) required by the U.S. military and most U.S.
Federal government agencies.
"Secure wireless is becoming even more critical as our military and civil
agency customers demand broadband mobility to enhance their performance and
mission capabilities," said Chuck Saffell, chief executive officer, Nortel
Government Solutions. "This agreement strengthens our ability to provide
proven, end-to-end solutions for secure wireless voice, video and data."
"Fortress and Nortel Government Solutions have been providing government
agencies worldwide with a joint solution for secure wireless voice, video
and data networking for years," said Janet Kumpu, chief executive officer
and president, Fortress Technologies. "This agreement is the next step in
expanding our strong relationship, providing a more flexible and efficient
means to meet growing customer demand."
The agreement includes the Fortress ES520 Secure Wireless Access Bridge,
which combines wireless, switching and security services in a small, rugged
form factor ideal for incident response and other applications requiring
rapid deployment of fixed or mobile voice, video and data communications.
About Fortress Technologies
Fortress Technologies designs, develops and manufactures market leading
wireless infrastructure and software solutions for secure mission critical
communications. Rigorously tested and proven, Fortress products provide
government and commercial customers secure wireless capabilities across
fixed, portable and mobile environments -- from the tactical edge to
municipal networks. Fortress' versatile, interoperable and standards-based
solutions enable immediate "on demand" secure voice, video and data
communications virtually anywhere and across all wireless transports
including Wi-Fi (802.11), WiMAX (802.16), free space optics (FSO), Military
RF and satellite. Fortress products are currently deployed in some of the
U.S. government's most demanding environments, supporting vital operations
that range from maintaining a forward presence to border protection to
emergency response.
For more information, visit www.fortresstech.com** or call 813-288-7388.
About Nortel Government Solutions
Nortel Government Solutions is a network-centric integrator, providing the
services expertise, mission-critical systems and secure communications that
empower government to ensure the security, livelihood, and well being of
its citizens. Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., Nortel Government Solutions
offers a one-stop shop for solutions designed to improve workforce
productivity, reduce operating costs, and streamline inter-agency
communications. Please visit www.nortelgov.com for more information.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities
that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our customers.
Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider and enterprise
networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel's
technologies are designed to help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency,
speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people to the
information they need, when they need it. Nortel does business in more than
150 countries around the world. For more information, visit Nortel on the
Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit
www.nortel.com/news.
Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as "could,"
"expects," "may," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates,"
"targets," "envisions," "seeks" and other similar language and are
considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable
securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's current
expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating
environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These
statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties,
which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially
different. Further, actual results or events could differ materially from
those contemplated in forward-looking statements as a result of the
following (i) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's restatements and
related matters including: Nortel's most recent restatement and two
previous restatements of its financial statements and related events; the
negative impact on Nortel and NNL of their most recent restatement and
delay in filing their financial statements and related periodic reports;
legal judgments, fines, penalties or settlements, or any substantial
regulatory fines or other penalties or sanctions, related to the ongoing
regulatory and criminal investigations of Nortel in the U.S. and Canada;
any significant pending civil litigation actions not encompassed by
Nortel's proposed class action settlement; any substantial cash payment
and/or significant dilution of Nortel's existing equity positions resulting
from the approval of its proposed class action settlement; any unsuccessful
remediation of Nortel's material weaknesses in internal control over
financial reporting resulting in an inability to report Nortel's results of
operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner; the
time required to implement Nortel's remedial measures; Nortel's inability
to access, in its current form, its shelf registration filed with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Nortel's below
investment grade credit rating and any further adverse effect on its credit
rating due to Nortel's restatements of its financial statements; any
adverse affect on Nortel's business and market price of its publicly traded
securities arising from continuing negative publicity related to Nortel's
restatements; Nortel's potential inability to attract or retain the
personnel necessary to achieve its business objectives; any breach by
Nortel of the continued listing requirements of the NYSE or TSX causing the
NYSE and/or the TSX to commence suspension or delisting procedures; (ii)
risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's business including: yearly and
quarterly fluctuations of Nortel's operating results; reduced demand and
pricing pressures for its products due to global economic conditions,
significant competition, competitive pricing practice, cautious capital
spending by customers, increased industry consolidation, rapidly changing
technologies, evolving industry standards, frequent new product
introductions and short product life cycles, and other trends and industry
characteristics affecting the telecommunications industry; the sufficiency
of recently announced restructuring actions, including the potential for
higher actual costs to be incurred in connection with these restructuring
actions compared to the estimated costs of such actions and the ability to
achieve the targeted cost savings and reductions of Nortel's unfunded
pension liability deficit; any material and adverse affects on Nortel's
performance if its expectations regarding market demand for particular
products prove to be wrong or because of certain barriers in its efforts to
expand internationally; any reduction in Nortel's operating results and any
related volatility in the market price of its publicly traded securities
arising from any decline in its gross margin, or fluctuations in foreign
currency exchange rates; any negative developments associated with Nortel's
supply contract and contract manufacturing agreements including as a result
of using a sole supplier for key optical networking solutions components,
and any defects or errors in Nortel's current or planned products; any
negative impact to Nortel of its failure to achieve its business
transformation objectives; additional valuation allowances for all or a
portion of its deferred tax assets; Nortel's failure to protect its
intellectual property rights, or any adverse judgments or settlements
arising out of disputes regarding intellectual property; changes in
regulation of the Internet and/or other aspects of the industry; Nortel's
failure to successfully operate or integrate its strategic acquisitions, or
failure to consummate or succeed with its strategic alliances; any negative
effect of Nortel's failure to evolve adequately its financial and
managerial control and reporting systems and processes, manage and grow its
business, or create an effective risk management strategy; and (iii) risks
and uncertainties relating to Nortel's liquidity, financing arrangements
and capital including: the impact of Nortel's most recent restatement and
two previous restatements of its financial statements; any inability of
Nortel to manage cash flow fluctuations to fund working capital
requirements or achieve its business objectives in a timely manner or
obtain additional sources of funding; high levels of debt, limitations on
Nortel capitalizing on business opportunities because of support facility
covenants, or on obtaining additional secured debt pursuant to the
provisions of indentures governing certain of Nortel's public debt issues
and the provisions of its support facility; any increase of restricted cash
requirements for Nortel if it is unable to secure alternative support for
obligations arising from certain normal course business activities, or any
inability of Nortel's subsidiaries to provide it with sufficient funding;
any negative effect to Nortel of the need to make larger defined benefit
plans contributions in the future or exposure to customer credit risks or
inability of customers to fulfill payment obligations under customer
financing arrangements; any negative impact on Nortel's ability to make
future acquisitions, raise capital, issue debt and retain employees arising
from stock price volatility and further declines in the market price of
Nortel's publicly traded securities, or the share consolidation resulting
in a lower total market capitalization or adverse effect on the liquidity
of Nortel's common shares. For additional information with respect to
certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form
10-K/A, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with
the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel
disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
* Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel
Networks. Nortel Government Solutions and the Nortel Government Solutions
logo are trademarks of Nortel Government Solutions Incorporated.
** This is a 3rd party link as described in Nortel's Web linking practices.