Nortel, Toshiba to Jointly Develop WiMAX Base Stations for Japan and Global Markets

18 May, 2007


Nortel
Toshiba Corporation

 


Focus on Innovation to Enhance
Anywhere, Anytime Wireless Broadband Communication

TOKYO -- Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] and Toshiba Corporation [TSE: 6502] today announced an agreement for the joint development of mobile WiMAX1 base stations for Japanese and global markets. The base stations will be based on Nortel's next-generation broadband wireless technology and Toshiba's high-efficiency amplifier and miniaturization technology.
The new WiMAX base stations will offer low power consumption with high reliability and will feature miniaturized equipment. The base stations' radio module will be developed by Toshiba, drawing on its strengths in miniaturization and high-efficiency amplifier technologies. Nortel will develop the digital module for the base stations. Nortel has extensive WiMAX R&D capabilities and expertise in OFDM2 and MIMO3 technologies that support high-speed wireless broadband communications. Building on these respective strengths, Nortel and Toshiba will develop an innovative range of small, power efficient, and cost effective WiMAX base stations.
"The initial focus will be on the joint development of WiMAX products, with Toshiba engineers contributing experience and expertise in radio technologies to Nortel's WiMAX solution," said Shunichi Kimura, corporate vice president and president and CEO of Toshiba's Social Infrastructure Systems Company, the division driving this initiative. "In addition to Japan, there are many countries around the world that would benefit from the implementation of WiMAX technology and this cooperative effort will make a significant contribution to bringing WiMAX solutions to these markets quickly and cost effectively."
"Japan is an important market for us and this agreement with Toshiba is positioning Nortel to play a further role in helping Japanese and global service providers deliver high-speed mobile broadband services," said Peter MacKinnon, general manager, Nortel WiMAX and Wireless Mesh, and chairman, LG-Nortel. "It also offers a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate how two technology powerhouses can pool innovation to develop new WiMAX products that simplify business in this era of hyperconnectivity - where anything that would benefit from being connected to the network will be connected."
"This agreement marks a significant milestone for Nortel and Toshiba," said Nick Vreugdenhil, president, Japan, Nortel. "As Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications works to standardize ultra-broadband wireless technologies for the domestic market, we will be ready to respond to the needs of the Japanese market – and extend the benefits of this joint development alliance to other markets around the globe."
WiMAX is a next generation standard for telecommunications that enables high-speed, high-capacity wireless broadband access to the Internet, covering a wider area4 than wireless LAN technologies and offering a higher speed5 than current mobile phone systems. WiMAX can enable anywhere, anytime wireless connectivity in cities and also in rural areas where a wired network infrastructure is not in place, benefiting users with wide transmission coverage and high capacity connectivity to high-bandwidth broadband services. Unlike wireless LAN, WiMAX does not restrict users to limited hot spots and allows users to be mobile while connected in a car or a train, for example – providing a solution to meet the accelerating worldwide consumer demand for anywhere, anytime wireless broadband connectivity.
In Japan, Nortel and Toshiba jointly participated in the government's next-generation wireless trial using WiMAX solutions, and successfully completed trial service provision in the Tohoku region of northern Japan during December 2006 to March 2007.
Nortel has been involved in development of OFDM/MIMO for more than eight years and plays a leading role in standardization of WiMAX technology. Nortel is conducting WiMAX trials and completing network deployments around the world, notably with Chunghwa Telecom and the National Taiwan University in Taiwan, Austar in Australia, Quad-Cities Online and MSV in the United States, Wind Telecom in the Dominican Republic, Craig Wireless in Greece, Golden Telecom in Russia, Telefónica Móviles in Mexico and TVA in Brazil, as well as with Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Toshiba has experience and expertise in wireless transmission areas, such as wireless base stations, booster amps for base stations, ROF (Radio Over Fiber) and gap fillers, mainly in the Japanese market.

1

WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access) is a standard for next generation wireless broadband telecommunications standardized by the WiMAX Forum, an industry organization that defines specifications and certifies interoperability, based on IEEE802.16 standards. Mobile WiMAX is a standard that assures mobility at speeds of up to 120km/h based on IEEE-802.16e-2005.

2 OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
3 MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output, a technology to improve transmission speed by applying multiple antennas in transmission and reception
4

Transmission distance (average): 1 to 3 km

5  Transmission speed (maximum): about 75Mbps

About Toshiba
Toshiba is a world leader and innovator in pioneering high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products spanning information & communications equipment and systems; digital consumer products; electronic devices and components; power systems; industrial and social infrastructure systems; and home appliances. In the social infrastructure systems business, Toshiba contributes to society with cutting edge infrastructure management systems and solutions, including radio application systems and broadcasting and network systems. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 670 companies, with over 191,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing US$60 billion. Visit Toshiba's web site at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm

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.


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