GTE and Newbridge Networks launch first nationwide ATM networkto sell advanced interactive communications services

IRVING, Texas -- GTE Telephone Operations and Newbridge Networks today announced the launch of the first nationwide Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network designed specifically for selling advanced interactive communications services.

The ATM network, an enhancement to an existing nationwide area network, links GTE's eight Technology Solution Centers (TSC) throughout the United States and enables customers to evaluate first-hand many of the company's advanced network services and applications enabled by ATM. While at the TSCs, customers will have access to technological resources at GTE Laboratories in Waltham, Mass., and Newbridge Networks in Herndon, Va., which will both be linked to the nationwide ATM network.

GTE's Technology Solution Centers are located in Thousand Oaks and Norwalk, Calif.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Bothell, Wash; Dallas; Tampa, Fla.; Research Triangle Park, N.C. and Ft. Wayne, Ind.

"The Technology Solution Centers create a unique opportunity to help customers understand our wide array of interactive communications services," said Barry Nalls, director of Business Data Products and Services for GTE. "By establishing this ATM network at the Technology Solution Centers, we will provide customers with the opportunity to view telecommunications solutions that translate technology into real-life benefits, not a simulation of what might be."

To support markets such as health care, education and state and local government, GTE plans to demonstrate applications enabled by ATM such as data storage and archiving, real estate relocation, telemedicine, feature-rich videoconferencing, distance learning and manufacturing.

With ATM technology, all types of information -- from low-speed data and voice to high-speed data and interactive video -- can be transported in fixed-length packets, called cells, of 53 bytes. As a result, customers at the TSCs can "test drive" the applications enabled by the sophisticated fast-packet demonstration network, providing them a clear vision of ATM's strength.

"Newbridge is excited to have been selected to work with GTE on this project," said Mike Pascoe, President, Newbridge Networks, Inc. "The TSCs will help GTE and Newbridge( customers see how each of these services can be packaged and applied to their individual business needs."

"We selected Newbridge Networks and its 36150 MainStreet (ATMnet) switch because of its many features as well as its ease of management and strong reputation for quality," said Nalls.

More than 800 of the 36150 MainStreet (ATMnet) switches have been deployed in 22 countries around the world.

GTE Telephone Operations is the largest U.S-based, local telephone company, providing voice, video and data products through more than 22 million access lines in the United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Based in Irving, Texas, the company had total revenues of $15.7 billion in 1994. Its parent organization, GTE Corp., is the fourth-largest publicly owned telecommunications company in the world.

Newbridge Networks is a world leader in designing, developing, producing and servicing a comprehensive family of networking products and systems that deliver the power of multimedia communications to organizations in more than 100 countries throughout the world. Newbridge Networks has facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Newbridge Networks Corporation is a public company whose common shares are listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NN) in the United States and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (NNC) in Canada.