Alcatel positioned in the leader quadrant for corporate telephony in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by analyst firm

28 October 2004
Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA AND NYSE: ALA) announced recently that market research firm Gartner Inc., placed Alcatel in the leader quadrant in corporate telephony for the European, Middle East and African region (EMEA). According to the Gartner report, "Corporate Telephony Magic Quadrant for EMEA, 2004", the corporate telephony market spans voice systems and enterprise networking equipment.

The Gartner report seeks to provide purchasing guidance to corporations by establishing which Internet Protocol (IP) vendor solutions and approaches will be the most successful over the next five years. For the study, Gartner evaluated 12 telephony vendors against a common set of criteria, including adequate market coverage to satisfy large regional implementations and ability to provide proven communications applications, such as contact center, messaging and remote/mobile user solutions, that deliver the value of converged voice and IT networks.

According to the report, Alcatel leads its competitors in corporate telephony because it provides a strong product upgrade migration strategy that is based on a modular appliance design and is engineered to protect existing technology investments. Alcatel's vision for unified communications is also cited by Gartner as leading the market, with the Alcatel OmniTouch Unified Communication voice and communication applications supporting integration with leading software platforms.

Gartner also notes Alcatel's channel strategy as an element of its leadership. Sales and service of Alcatel enterprise network equipment is delivered through independent vendor partnerships, which allows Alcatel to quickly extend operational presence to new markets and geographies. Through its EMEA-wide partner system, Alcatel can rapidly address the needs of international enterprises to build the wide area networks (WAN) that facilitate the deployment of converged voice and data systems.

Alcatel's corporate telephony solutions are built on the Alcatel OmniPCX Enterprise and Alcatel OmniPCX Office communication servers, which are designed to work with both traditional and IP-based phone technologies. The Alcatel OmniTouch Unified Communication software suite enables communication tools and applications to work together seamlessly to improve interactions and increase productivity, allowing employees to access information and business applications using any device regardless of their location.

Alcatel solutions offer an evolution path that allows businesses of any size to modify and evolve the system to fit their future needs. Based on open standards, Alcatel corporate telephony solutions leverage existing equipment and technology, saving money and reducing risk while creating a solid foundation for future communication technologies. Alcatel's enterprise solutions extend digital telephony beyond corporate headquarters to branch offices and the remote workers, delivering increased services, access to mission-critical applications, and simplified management.

"We are honored to again be recognized by Gartner as a leader in corporate telephony in EMEA," says Jean-Christophe Giroux, President of Alcatel's enterprise solutions activities. "In improving upon our market position compared to last year, Alcatel has focused on delivering our customers user-centric enterprise communications solutions that reduce costs, while enabling employees to be more productive and customers to be more profitable."

-Ends-

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 to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.5 billion in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com

To access the full "Corporate Telephony Magic Quadrant for EMEA, 2004" report, please go to the following link:

http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/alcatel/issue1/index.html

* The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. Gartner's permission to print or reference its Magic Quadrant should not be deemed to be an endorsement of any company or product depicted in the quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is Gartner's opinion and is an analytical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It measures vendors against Gartner-defined criteria for a marketplace. The positioning of vendors within a Magic Quadrant is based on the complex interplay of many factors. Gartner does not advise enterprises to select only those firms in the Leaders segment. In some situations, firms in the Visionary, Challenger, or Niche Player segments may be the right match for an enterprise's requirements. Well-informed vendor selection decisions should rely on more than a Magic Quadrant. Gartner research is intended to be one of many information sources including other published information and direct analyst interaction. Gartner expressly disclaims all warranties, express or implied of fitness of this research for a particular purpose.

For further information, please contact:
Hesham Al-Nahhas,
Middle East Regional Director,
Alcatel Enterprise Solutions
Tel: +9714 3349988
Fax:+9714 3349989
Email:h.elnahhas@alcatel.com.eg

Alcatel Press Contact