Nortel Adds Partner Assurance Contract to its SMB Services Portfolio

LONDON, October 31 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Services Contract to Offer Small Businesses the Right Customer Experience

Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) has extended its already broad channel partner 'Assurance' services portfolio for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with the addition of the small and medium business (SMB) Partner Assurance Contract (PAC). PAC has been developed and packaged specifically for the use of those partners in the SMB market.

SMB PAC is a partner-owned contract and provides a direct service into Nortel's technical support infrastructure via the company's eServices portal. Once the annually renewable contract is set up via the SMB partners' Nortel distributor, the SMB Partner will receive, for a renewable fee, access to a set of services including technical support (voice and on-line), software patches and technical documentation. The fee is (pnds stlg)1,585 ((euro)2,350) for the first year and (pnds stlg)2,640 ((euro)3,900) thereafter.

"Working together with our channel partners, we continue to develop and deploy solutions that help clients grow and become on-demand businesses," said David Millett, director, Business Development and Marketing EMEA Services, Nortel. "The combination of Nortel and our SMB Business Partners is a powerful 'one plus one equals three' value proposition for our customers."

Part of Nortel's ongoing commitment to developing partner programmes that address the business needs of its channel partners, the SMB PAC has been designed to add real value to SMB customers, allowing resellers to offer a comprehensive product and service solution. This helps build customer loyalty while providing Nortel's Business Partners with an increased revenue opportunity in the SMB technology services market place.

The SMB PAC is available to registered resellers of Nortel's SMB Accelerate Partner Programme, who have reached an agreed level of accreditation as SMB Business Partners having attended the free Nortel training and certification courses.

"My customers, which are mainly small businesses, need and use technology every day to help them communicate. They like to have the added peace of mind knowing we are there to help if things go wrong," said Thomas Jacques, managing director of 1st Communications, a Nortel accredited reseller.

"With Nortel SMB PAC I am now able to offer that peace of mind without putting a burden on my existing resources. As a bonus I have found that our in house productivity has increased, as have our technical skills, helping to ensure our customers are dealt with more efficiently and effectively every day," concluded Jacques.

"Many vendors are increasingly finding enterprise markets nearing saturation point in terms of new product and services sales opportunities. The SMB sector is a key focus area for a number of vendors that are seeking to capitalise on opportunities in this market," said Alan Mac Neela, VP Gartner Dataquest Research. "Key to success in this highly competitive and cost conscious marketplace are services and solutions that are price competitive, quick to implement and provide a speedy return on investment."

To complement Nortel's SMB PAC and to ensure partners can choose the appropriate services package to meet their SMB customers needs, Nortel also offers a range of end-user maintenance service contracts, covering the entire SMB product portfolio. These are simple to buy, activate, use and renew. Resellers can purchase them directly from their Nortel distributors and include:

SMB AssurancePaks: Nortel's SMB 'service in a box' contracts - each contract supporting a single SMB product. Holders receive technical support 24x7, software patches, managed spares with or without an engineer on site.

Complementary Assurance Services (CAS): full Nortel SMB 'solution contracts' - typically containing two or more Nortel products, which can cover multiple sites. Holders likewise receive technical support 24x7, software patches, managed spares with or without an engineer on site.

"As Nortel brings higher value solutions and services to the mid-market our partners will profit more by providing the technology and services around these offerings. We are enabling partners to build loyalty with their customers while helping them grow their businesses. Through targeted new service initiatives such as the SMB PAC and by offering choice through a comprehensive and flexible SMB services portfolio, we are continuing to focus on our Business Partners profitability across the targeted market," said Millett.

These latest offerings demonstrate Nortel's continued investment in the small and medium business market and commitment to accelerating the evolution of its SMB roadmap to encompass more high-value business and infrastructure solutions, thus continuing to outpace its competition in the growing services arena.

For more information on Nortel's SMB Accelerate Partner Programme and SMB services initiatives please go to: www.Nortel.com/accelerate-smbpp

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognised 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. Our next-generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. 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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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 fulfil 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 any future share consolidation resulting in a lower total market capitalisation or adverse effect on the liquidity of Nortel's common shares. 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