First Commercial Deployment of Optical Ethernet Solution in the World 
    with CIBC

    TORONTO, May 16 /CNW/ - Bell Nexxia, a leader in providing innovative
communications solutions to businesses, today announced the delivery of Nortel
Networks'* optical Ethernet solution to INTRIA-HP for the Canadian Imperial
Bank of Commerce's (CIBC) corporate IP network. This is the first global
enterprise deployment of a commercial, carrier class Gigabit Ethernet solution
based on interWAN technology. Initially, Bell Nexxia is deploying the optical
Ethernet solution for INTRIA-HP and CIBC which has already been implemented in
Toronto, with coast-to-coast deployment planned within a year.
    The implementation of the optical Ethernet solution will provide CIBC's
network with the capability to support high-bandwidth applications with
additional quality of service (QoS) functionality and a more cost-effective
approach to deliver these applications. Some possible future services that
this technology could deliver include: broadcast-quality video streaming and
video conferencing to the desktop, real-time radio broadcasts to the desktop,
and IP telephony. CIBC's ability to deploy enterprise-wide applications will
be limitless with the increased capacity available through the network
infrastructure.
    This breakthrough deployment of Nortel Networks' optical Ethernet
solution is the result of an existing partnership between INTRIA-HP and Bell
Nexxia to design and implement a single, cohesive corporate IP network for
CIBC's Connected Enterprise program. The Connected Enterprise program supports
CIBC's movement into the digital economy by providing a global mission-
critical infrastructure in which information can be shared in a timely and
reliable manner among employees, customers and suppliers.
    Bell Nexxia's delivery of this leading-edge optical Ethernet solution to
INTRIA-HP is part of the $75 million, multi-year agreement announced in late
1999. Bell Nexxia recently announced that it selected Nortel Networks' optical
Ethernet solution to enable large-scale gigabit networking that is simpler to
manage and substantially more cost-effective, providing higher bandwidth at
lower cost with the high-performance and reliability needed by a major
financial institution.
    "CIBC's customers will see an improvement in the speed at which
information can be accessed and received," said Mike Somerville, vice
president, INTRIA-HP. "We are leading technological innovation in the banking
industry by exploiting speed to deliver greater business value to our
customers. The Gigabit Ethernet technology was exactly what we were looking
for to provide simple network topology with cost effectiveness, reliability,
scalability and growth potential. The deployment of the Nortel Networks'
optical Ethernet solution will make CIBC's corporate LAN the fastest, most
reliable network in the banking industry."
    The network solution based on Gigabit Ethernet technology operates the
same protocol from the network core to the desktop at gigabit speed. Although
this is the first commercial deployment of Gigabit Ethernet technology, INTRIA-
HP has managed the risk by overlaying the Gigabit Ethernet solution over
CIBC's existing network infrastructure to minimize any implementation issues,
making certain that the new network is fully operational before the old
infrastructure is removed.
    "We selected Nortel Networks' Gigabit Ethernet solution because of its
inherent best-in-class advantages and because it exceeds all of CIBC's
requirements - affordability, scalability, reliability and capacity," said Tom
Gillette, senior vice president, Sales, Bell Nexxia. "Our knowledge of
customers helped Nortel Networks to develop the optical Ethernet solution that
provides higher bandwidth at a lower cost."
    "Nortel Networks is delivering the speed, quality, reliability and
economics of the high-performance Internet to today's enterprises," said Don
Smith, president, Optical Internet, Nortel Networks. "With this solution, we
can help CIBC realize its business objectives by extending the simplicity of
the LAN across the WAN."
    One of the key features of Nortel Networks' optical Ethernet solution is
the breakthrough interWAN* Packet Transport to integrate Ethernet switching
across the complete Nortel Networks OPTera* and Transport Node product
lines.
    Nortel Networks' end-to-end optical Ethernet solution provides a new way
of building integrated residential, business, service provider, and optical
networks all based on one common language - Ethernet technology. It combines
the power and reliability of optical networking with the simplicity,
flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of Ethernet to deliver greater bandwidth
with lower cost.

    About Bell Nexxia
    As a member of Bell Canada, Bell Nexxia is a leader in providing
innovative communications solutions to large enterprise customers across
Canada and the United States. Leveraging a state-of-the-art IP-Broadband
network, the strength and expertise of the BCE (NYSE/TSE: BCE) group of
companies and strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Nortel
Networks (NYSE/TSE: NT), Bell Nexxia provides its customers with cost-
effective next-generation services they need to compete in the global
marketplace. Bell Nexxia's Internet Web site is located at www.bellnexxia.com

    About INTRIA-HP Corporation
    INTRIA-HP, a joint venture of CIBC and Hewlett-Packard Company, was
formed in November 1998 to provide electronic processing services for
companies requiring mission-critical business activities such as financial
processing and e-business. INTRIA-HP's main hosting facilities in Toronto are
among the most advanced in North America, providing anytime, anywhere
computing. INTRIA-HP offers e-services, computing utility and SAP hosting
services to large enterprise customers across North America. INTRIA-HP's on-
line availability for CIBC is the best of any major Canadian financial
institution.

    About CIBC
    CIBC is a leading North American financial institution offering more than
eight million personal banking and business customers a full range of products
and services through its comprehensive electronic banking network, branches
and offices across Canada, in the United States and around the world.

    * Nortel Networks, interWAN, and OPTera are trademarks of Nortel
    Networks.



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For further information: Donald Hogarth, Bell Canada Media Relations, 
(416) 581-3311, 1-888-482-0809; Luanne Buckley, INTRIA HP, (416) 980-5179