Tulalip Tribes Deploys Nortel Converged Network to Power Tribal Expansion

Network Infrastructure Provides IP Multimedia Capabilities

August 22nd, 2005

SEATTLE -The Tulalip Tribe has deployed a converged network solution from Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] to provide a strategic communications foundation supporting the tribe's current and future development efforts for its mid-Puget Sound area community.

Working in conjunction with Tulalip Data Services (TDS), Nortel has provided data, voice and multimedia solutions for businesses in the tribe's new Seattle Premium Outlet Mall. These new capabilities have formed a foundation for extending leading-edge, high-bandwidth networking capabilities to local government, businesses and residents of the Tulalip community.

"Much of our progress in the business realm is predicated on our ability to collaborate and share information in the most meaningful way, regardless of whether that is via voice, e-mail, instant messaging, videoconferencing or access to our knowledge management systems," said Dr. Bill Erdly, project director, TDS. "This network provides that, but more importantly, it enables our tribe to provide collaborative IP multimedia capabilities to the people, agencies and companies that are a part of our community."

"Our ability to derive revenue and provide exemplary customer services from this deployment at the new Seattle Premium Outlet mall is a great first step," Dr. Erdly said. "We are looking forward to using this solution for future strategic integration of our tribe with our local government, the business community, residents and other tribal communities."

"We are very pleased to be working with the Tulalip Tribe to help improve communications with and among their government agencies, businesses and the community," said Malcolm Collins, president, Enterprise Networks, Nortel. "Ultimately, our goals are focused on providing the means to improve the community with more flexible communications that enhance the ability to share information and ideas. Designed to enhance the human experience, Nortel's solutions are planned to enable communications best-suited to meet our customer's needs, instead of forcing a customer's business case to meet their networking capabilities."

Tulalip's network from Nortel delivers voice, data, video and multimedia capabilities to support current needs while providing easy expansion to meet future requirements without new infrastructure. In addition, the Tulalip Casino, which currently uses a Nortel IP Telephony solution, will integrate IP multimedia capabilities that will allow casino patrons to receive promotions based on their customer status. These promotions, such as discounts, will be made available via multimedia kiosks in the casino and are planned to be redeemable in the mall.

Based on the carrier-grade resilience of Nortel Ethernet Switch 8600, the network provides the Tulalip Tribe with industry-leading uptime, performance and scalability. Because the network employs Nortel Optical Metro 3500 and 3100 for fiber connectivity, it is capable of very high-bandwidth services and application delivery.

The Tulalip Tribe is located on the federally-recognized reservation in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. The Tribe serves as the local municipal government that provides services on the reservation, including housing, health and dental care, education, land leasing, utilities, marine moorage and cable television. The Tribe also serves the local business community, residents, the Tulalip Casino and the Quil Ceda Creek Nightclub and Casino.

About Tulalip Data Services

Tulalip Data Services (TDS) is responsible for networking infrastructure, government and business systems integration, health informatics, digital preservation of cultural knowledge, and general knowledge management strategies. These projects are part of a comprehensive strategy defined by the Tulalip Board of Directors to ensure economic development, quality social/health/government services and education for tribal members and regional community partners. TDS focuses on the necessary technology infrastructure and computing services to support this goal. TDS is a community partnership between the Tulalip Tribes and the University of Washington, Bothell that emphasizes educational opportunities and career development for its employees. For further information, please visit theTDS page.

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical information. Serving both service provider and enterprise customers, Nortel delivers innovative technology solutions encompassing end-to-end broadband, Voice over IP, multimedia services and applications, and wireless broadband designed to help people solve the world's greatest challenges. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries.