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Nortel Acquires DiamondWare to Improve Virtual Web and Voice Communications(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) OTTAWA, ONTARIO, August 21 / MARKET WIRE/ -- Today Nortel(1) (TSX: NT)(NYSE: NT) announced it has acquired DiamondWare (2), 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. "A key goal of Nortel has always been to use technology to replicate the richness of a real-world communications experience," said John Roese, Nortel's chief technology officer. "The acquisition of DiamondWare strengthens Nortel's position in the converging telecommunications and IT landscapes and gives us another building block to create the ultimate communications experience for our customers." DiamondWare's technology has been deployed in gaming environments and in U.S. military tactical intercom systems, and by a broad range of carriers and equipment manufacturers. DiamondWare's technology uses wideband, stereo capability and custom spatial positioning that can deliver real-time interactions in 3D virtual worlds and meetings, online gaming systems, and multimedia applications. For example, if several individuals in a virtual game or meeting are speaking at the same time, DiamondWare's technology allows each individual to hear other participants in relation to how far away they are in the virtual space. Participants can also engage in private conversations. These types of capabilities can dramatically enhance the virtual communications experience and make it much closer to a real-world experience. "DiamondWare's 3D voice technology will help give Nortel's customers a more natural and immersive communication experience, whether they're using it for traditional telephony and conferencing applications, mobile unified communications or for Web 2.0 virtual world environments," said Keith Weiner, CEO of DiamondWare. "Having had first-hand exposure to both DiamondWare and web.alive, Nortel's Web 2.0 virtual conferencing platform, the natural synergies are clear," said Jon Arnold, principal of J Arnold & Associates (2) and a widely-followed blogger. "These are complex technologies that DiamondWare has been quietly mastering, and will help Nortel establish market leadership in what I see being the next wave of interactive communications." Nortel will leverage DiamondWare's technology across its Carrier and Enterprise portfolios to enhance its multimedia, voice conferencing and VoIP solutions. In addition, it will be used for a variety of new advanced research projects that are part of Nortel's Incubation Program. One of these projects, dubbed "web.alive", is a 3D Web networking solution that allows users to collaborate, socialize and conduct business in a virtual environment with life-like visual and audio features, within the security of their own corporate networks. Under the terms of the agreement, Nortel will acquire all of the outstanding shares of DiamondWare. The acquisition costs, including employee retention and transaction costs, were approximately $7M in cash, plus up to an additional $3M to DiamondWare security holders based on achievement of future business milestones over the next 40 months. 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. Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as "could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different. Further, actual results or events could differ materially from those contemplated in forward-looking statements as a result of the following (i) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's business including: significant competition, competitive pricing practice, cautious capital spending by customers, industry consolidation, rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and short product life cycles, and other trends and industry characteristics affecting the telecommunications industry; any material, adverse affects on Nortel's performance if its expectations regarding market demand for particular products prove to be wrong; the sufficiency of recently announced restructuring actions; any negative developments associated with Nortel's suppliers and contract manufacturing agreements including our reliance on certain suppliers for key optical networking solutions components; potential penalties, damages or cancelled customer contracts from failure to meet delivery and installation deadlines and any defects or errors in Nortel's current or planned products; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; potential higher operational and financial risks associated with Nortel's efforts to expand internationally; potential additional valuation allowances for all or a portion of Nortel's deferred tax assets if market conditions deteriorate or future results of operations are less than expected; a failure to protect Nortel's intellectual property rights, or any adverse judgments or settlements arising out of disputes regarding intellectual property; any negative effect of a failure to maintain integrity of Nortel's information systems; changes in regulation of the telecommunications industry or other aspects of the industry; any failure to successfully operate or integrate strategic acquisitions, or failure to consummate or succeed with strategic alliances; Nortel's potential inability to attract or retain the personnel necessary to achieve its business objectives or to maintain an effective risk management strategy; (ii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's liquidity, financing arrangements and capital including: any inability of Nortel to manage cash flow fluctuations to fund working capital requirements or achieve its business objectives in a timely manner or obtain additional sources of funding; high levels of debt, limitations on Nortel capitalizing on business opportunities because of senior notes covenants, or on obtaining additional secured debt pursuant to the provisions of indentures governing certain of Nortel's public debt issues; Nortel's below investment grade credit rating; any increase of restricted cash requirements for Nortel if it is unable to secure alternative support for obligations arising from certain normal course business activities, or any inability of Nortel's subsidiaries to provide it with sufficient funding; 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 fulfill payment obligations under customer financing arrangements; or any negative impact on Nortel's ability to make future acquisitions, raise capital, issue debt and retain employees arising from stock price volatility and any declines in the market price of Nortel's publicly traded securities; and (iii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's prior restatements and related matters including: any negative impact on Nortel and NNL of such restatements; legal judgments, fines, penalties or settlements related to the ongoing criminal investigations of Nortel in the U.S. and Canada; the significant dilution of Nortel's existing equity positions resulting from the approval of its class action settlement; any significant pending or future civil litigation actions not encompassed by Nortel's class action settlement; any unsuccessful remediation of Nortel's material weakness in internal control over financial reporting resulting in an inability to report Nortel's results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner; or any breach by Nortel of the continued listing requirements of the NYSE or TSX causing the NYSE and/or the TSX to commence suspension or delisting procedures. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form10-K and other securities filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. (1)Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks. (2)This is a 3rd party link as described in our Web linking practices. Contacts: Nortel Jamie Moody (927) 684-7167 Email: [email protected] Nortel Mohammad Nakhooda (905) 863-7407 Email: [email protected] Website: www.nortel.com Copyright ? 2008 Marketwire |