| 2000 – An independent Nortel Networks Some 118 years after spawning Nortel Networks as its in-house Mechanical Department, Bell Canada (BCE) distributes 94 percent of its Nortel Networks stake to shareholders. Nortel Networks is now a totally independent global company. |
| 2000 – Wings of Light – anywhere, anytime communications Nortel unveils “Wings of Light” market strategy unifying the company’s IP, optical and wireless capabilities optical to make the high-performance Internet available virtually anywhere, anytime. Wings of Light’ will extend the benefits of the high-performance Internet to redefine how wireless services are delivered and managed. |
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2000 – Landmark 3G wireless milestones from Nortel Nortel completes a series of landmark 3G wireless calls, including the industry’s first wireless packet data sessions using CDMA2000 1XRTT. Nortel successfully demonstrated in-building, pedestrian and vehicular calls for representatives of Bell Mobility and Sprint PCS over a trial network. The trails represent an aggressive first step to rolling out true, enhanced wireless Internet services to CDMA subscribers. |
| 2000 – Energizing optical networks with IP intelligence Nortel launches a groundbreaking solution for delivering IP services over fiber optics, enabling comprehensive network outsourcing for Fortune 1,000 companies and faster, more cost-effective service provisioning than ever before for service providers and carriers. With the introduction of the IP/Optical Services platform, Nortel is the first Internet solutions provider to address market demand for unlimited bandwidth and cost-effective delivery of eBusiness services with a single solution. |
| 2001 – World’s first commercial 3G UMTS Nortel Networks installs the world’s first 3G UMTS commercial radio equipment for Airtel Movil SA in Spain (now a Vodafone company), demonstrating the company’s leadership in building wireless Internet. |
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2002 – Bombay Stock Exchange merges networks The Bombay Stock Exchange, India’s largest financial exchange, merges three previously separate networks into one core backbone based on an Ethernet switching solution from Nortel Networks. By combining its networks into one, the exchange can cost-effectively provide faster, more reliable and more secure services to brokers. |
| 2002 – Momentum in rural markets Nortel signs 175 rural service providers for the latest enhancements to its DMS-10 carrier-class switching system. The company also wins new contracts with two independent operating companies (IOCs) — IOCs Crosslake Communications, serving central Minnesota, and Kentucky-based Mountain Telephone. |
| 2003 – Giving voice to XXth Olympic Winter Games in 2006 The Organizing Committee (TOROC) for the XXth Olympic Winter Games selects Nortel to provide an advanced IP communications network to support both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Turin, Italy in 2006. The network will connect TOROC headquarters in Turin, the International Broadcast Center and media village (supporting more than 10,000 journalists from around the world) as well as the Olympic villages and all game fields. |
| 2003 – Milestone enterprise telephony line shipment Nortel Networks ships it 50 millionth enterprise telephony line. This milestone shipment is part of a deployment which demonstrates how Nortel Networks has provided a path to upgrade enterprise voice telephony lines to converged IP telephony solutions to allow for reduced costs and new applications. |
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| 2003 – 3G wireless momentum Nortel Networks continues its momentum in its 3G wireless business. New contracts with carriers such as Orange and AT&T Wireless were announced for W-CDMA technology. A CDMA 1xEV-DO network was launched by Verizon Wireless, providing users with high speed wireless data access. |
| 2004 – First networking company to complete IPv6 tests Nortel becomes the first networking company to complete the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) phase II test regimen for IPv6 – the next generation Internet Protocol. IPv6 enables the Internet to continue to grow, accommodating new addresses for users and destinations that would not be available with current technology. |
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2004 – End-to-end VoIP solution certification by JITC Nortel is the first networking vendor to provide an end-to-end VoIP solution certified by the U.S. Defense Department Joint Interoperability Test Commande (JITC). |
| 2004 – World’s first professional sports facility’s wireless network Teaming with Nortel, the San Francisco Giants baseball team implements a state-of-the-art wireless local area network at SBC Park. As a result, the Giants become the world’s first professional sports organization to provide universal public wireless access and its park ranks among the world’s largest public hotspots. |
| 2004 – Industry’s first CDMA450 EV-DO wireless network The industry’s first CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network operating in the 450 MHz radio spectrum is launched by Nortel and Eurotel Praha spol. s r.o. Eurotel is the largest provider of wireless voice and data services in the Czech Republic. |
| 2005 – Establishes key partnerships with leading companies Nortel establishes key partnerships with leading companies such as Symantec, IBM, Research in Motion (RIM), China Putian and LG Electronics. The partnerships are focused on extending market presence and speeding time to market in security, mobility and multimedia communications. |
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| 2005 – Japan’s first ‘supercharged’ wireless data BB Mobile, a SOFTBANK Group company, and Nortel complete what is believed to be Japan’s first ‘supercharged’ wireless data transmission of 14.4 million bits per second – 30 times faster than today’s commercially deployed wireless networks – using UMTS technology. |
| 2005 – Canada’s fastest, most advanced wireless data network Bell Mobility, Canada’s leading wireless carrier, signs an estimated US$126 million multi-year contract with Nortel for equipment to enable the country’s fastest and most advanced wireless data network. The network is expected to deliver services at speeds up to six times faster than what is currently available. |
| 2005 – Industry’s first HSDPA test calls with commercial handset Nortel and LG Electronics complete the industry’s first live test calls using a commercial handset solution for the emerging broadband wireless technology, HSDPA. The companies demonstrated real-world experiences of ‘supercharged’ broadband services that can help wireless operators generate new revenues through high-resolution interactive gaming, multimedia music downloads, DVD-quality video and Mobile TV. |
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2006 – Nortel, Microsoft Form Alliance to Accelerate Transformation of Business Communications The convergence of the communications and IT industries takes a significant step forward as Microsoft Corp. and Nortel announce a strategic alliance based on a shared vision for unified communications. By combining Nortel’s world-class network quality and reliability with Microsoft® software’s ease of use, the alliance will accelerate the availability of unified communications – an industry concept that uses advanced technologies to break down today’s device- and network-centric silos of communication (such as e-mail, instant messaging, telephony and multimedia conferencing) and makes it easy and efficient for workers to reach colleagues, partners and customers with the devices and applications they use most. |
| 2006 – Nortel and QUALCOMM Achieve Industry’s Fastest HSDPA Data Call Nortel and QUALCOMM achieve the industry’s first 7.2 Mbps HSDPA mobile data calls at data downloads speeds up to four times faster than most current fixed broadband connections. The calls covered frequencies in all commercially available UMTS spectrum currently used by mobile operators throughout the world. |
| 2006 – Golden Telecom to Launch Moscow’s First Wireless Mesh Network Golden Telecom, Inc, a leading Russia-based service provider, is using wireless mesh network technology from Nortel to build Moscow’s first wireless mesh network. The mesh network expands Golden Telecom’s broadband communication services to include universal indoor and outdoor wireless access to approximately 3.9 million households in Moscow. Golden Telecom plans to offer wireless broadband services that will be competitively priced and offer higher speed services than many other Internet access services currently available. |
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| 2006 – Nortel to Capitalize on Growth in Video Bandwidth Nortel announces a new business focus on driving market share in super-fast Ethernet networks essential to handling the coming growth of bandwidth-hungry video applications. Nortel’s strategic initiative – Metro Ethernet Networks – will offer innovative Ethernet portfolios designed to deliver high quality, reliability and security. The Nortel initiative will also focus on wireless capabilities, using its Metro Ethernet solution to ensure such applications as high-bandwidth video provide real-time speed and quality to mobile devices. |
| 2006 – Taiwan’s First Integrated Local Government WiMAX Network A new Mobile WiMAX network in the northeastern county of Yilan, built by Chunghwa Telecom in association with Nortel and eASPNet, is to become the first fully integrated broadband wireless network driven by a local government under the Mobile-Taiwan (M-Taiwan) project. Positioning the district as a national showcase for ubiquitous wireless broadband services, the WiMAX infrastructure will enable broadband wireless access to such services as M-Learning, M-Commerce, M-Tour as well as video surveillance and IPTV services. |
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2006 – Nortel Strengthens China Commitment with Hi-Tech Beijing Campus Nortel opens a sophisticated new facility in Beijing to strengthen its R&D capabilities in China and support the development of products for customers in Asia and global markets. The facility will develop next-generation communications technology designed to help drive customer profitability and competitive advantage, and showcase them in Nortel’s first Executive Briefing Center in Asia. |
| 2006 – Nortel Opens Asia Network Management Center in India Nortel enhances its ability to help enterprises, service providers and cable operators worldwide focus resources on their business rather than their networks with the opening of a new Asia Network Management Center in New Delhi, India. The center, with similar Nortel facilities in London and Raleigh, N.C., delivers customer services designed to take the worry out of networks by optimizing performance, efficiency, reliability, security and cost. |
| 2006 – Nortel Celebrates 25 Years of Business in Mexico Nortel Mexico celebrates 25 years of doing business in Mexico, bringing technological innovation to its corporate, carrier and services customers. In 2006, Nortel opened a new Customer Service Center of Excellence focused on delivering services and telecom solutions to service providers across North America, Europe, Caribbean and Latin America. |
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2006 – Canada’s Telecom Hall of Fame Honors Nortel for “Digital World” Nortel receives a special recognition award from Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame for its role in pioneering digital communications. The award is based on Nortel’s development of the world’s first complete family of telecommunications systems based on digital technology. Nortel’s “Digital World” initiative, announced in March 1976, eventually became known as the project that launched the telecommunications industry into a new era and that laid the foundation for much of the innovation for years to come. |
| 2007 – Nortel Achieves Industry’s First Multi-Vendor Live MIMO-Powered WiMAX Call Nortel, Kyocera Wireless and Runcom achieve what is believed to be the industry’s first multi-vendor, live MIMO call using innovative WiMAX antenna technology. This technology is expected to deliver mobile services three to five times faster and at a much lower cost than today’s 3G networks. |
| 2007 – Nortel Named Official Converged Network Equipment Supplier for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Nortel and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) announces that Nortel will be the Official Converged Network Equipment Supplier for the 2010 Winter Games. As part of the sponsorship agreement, Nortel will supply the network communications equipment required for what will be the first all-IP converged Games network. |
| 2007 – President George W. Bush Appoints Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski to National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee President George W. Bush nominates Nortel President and CEO Mike Zafirovski to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). In its advisory role to the president, the NSTAC provides industry-based analysis and recommendations on a wide range of policy and technical issues related to telecommunications, information systems, information assurance, infrastructure protection, and other national security and emergency preparedness concerns. |
| 2008 – Nortel LearniT and Curriki Form Alliance to Bring One of the World’s Largest, Free Online Resources to Educators Working to ensure students are prepared to compete globally in the 21st century, Nortel LearniT and Curriki form an alliance to co-ordinate their websites into one of the world’s largest, free online sources of educational materials. |
| 2008 – Nortel Meets Bandwidth Explosion and launches New, Revolutionary 40G to 100G Optical Solution and Comcast performs first 100 gig trial Nortel introduced the industry’s first optical technology that can deliver both 40G and 100G network capacity, enabling four times the network throughput immediately while providing the foundation to simply and affordably increase capacity tenfold as required. In addition Comcast Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications, is testing a 100 Gigabit/sec optical solution from Nortel. |
| 2008 – Nortel and LG Electronics Demonstrate Two ‘World Firsts’ in LTE Mobile Broadband Nortel and LG Electronics, a leader in digital electronics and mobile phones, have accomplished two “world firsts” that demonstrate the mobile broadband power of 4G LTE. The demos were the world’s first demonstration of LTE over Advanced Wireless Services Spectrum and the World’s First Demonstration of LTE Mobile Broadband Performance in a Fast-Moving Vehicle |
| 2008 – Nortel announces stretgic agreement with Alvarion Nortel is aligning its 4G wireless broadband strategy to address early market opportunities that are emerging for WiMAX and LTE. In addition Nortel and Alvarion Ltd. entered into a joint strategic WiMAX agreement to create an end-to-end WiMAX solution to meet the needs of the evolving wireless broadband market. |
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2008 – Nortel is named as Official Network Infrastructure Partner for the London 2012 Olympic Games The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited (LOCOG) today announced that Nortel is the Official Network Infrastructure Partner and the latest London 2012 Tier One sponsor. |
| 2008 – Nortel Acquires DiamondWare Nortel announced it acquired DiamondWare, a pioneer in high-definition, proximity-based 3D positional voice technology that brings life-like sound to virtual web and voice communications. The acquisition furthers Nortel’s drive to transform communications to allow people to collaborate in more interactive and immersive ways. |
| 2008 – Nortel Acquires Pingtel Nortel announced its acquisition of Pingtel Corp.’s business. U.S.-based Pingtel is a designer of software-based unified communications solutions and is owned by Bluesocket Inc, an enterprise mobility solutions provider. Pingtel will provide new software capabilities to Nortel’s enterprise unified communications portfolio, as well as additional research and development capabilities. |
| 2008 – LG-Nortel Acquires Novera Optics LG-Nortel announced that it has closed the acquisition of Novera Optics Inc., a developer of fiber-optic access solutions that extend high-speed carrier Ethernet services from optical core networks to customer premises. LG-Nortel is a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel. |
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| 2008 – Nortel Participates in Largest Ever Public Carrier Ethernet Interoperability Test Nortel will join over 27 leading international vendors to stage the world’s largest and most advanced live, public Carrier Ethernet multi-vendor interoperability showcase at Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Berlin on September 22. |
| 2008 – T-Mobile and Nortel: World’s first successful live test of the next generation of mobile communications with LTE under everyday conditions Mobility test passed: T-Mobile, jointly with Nortel, was the first network operator to demonstrate the next generation mobile communications or NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks) successfully for its fitness under everyday conditions, using LTE (Long Term Evolution) as an example. |
| 2009 – Nortel Obtains Court Orders for Creditor Protection Certain Nortel entities in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada, filed voluntary petitions in the United States under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and certain of the Company’s EMEA subsidiaries made consequential filings in Europe. |
| 2009 – Nortel Divests Various Business Units Nortel and its board of directors decide to divest virtually all corporate assets.
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| 2010 – Business Unit Asset Sales Continue Throughout most of 2010, Nortel continued to wind down business operations and sell off its various business units.
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| 2011 – The End of an Era As 2011 drew to a close, all substantial assets of Nortel had been sold to other entities and the corporation was split into regional entities (such as Nortel Networks Limited in Canada and Nortel Networks Inc. in the United States) which would continue wind down procedures.
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