Prestigious quality standard award drives cost savings for service providers
Paris, July 10, 2001 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP. PA and NYSE: ALA), the market leader in broadband access, has achieved European TL9000 certification for its range of digital subscriber line (DSL) central office and customer premises equipment. TL9000, a new international telecommunications standard for quality management systems that contains all the requirements of ISO9000, was introduced by the QuEST Forum (Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications). TL9000 contains industry-specific requirements for hardware, software and services that have been designed to help vendors reduce service providers' operating expenditure and provide improved service to end users. A number of service providers have begun to include TL9000 as a requirement in their contract stipulations.
Alcatel is widely recognized as leader in the market for broadband equipment and achieving TL9000 certification is a further endorsement of its commitment to developing carrier class DSL products. QuEST and Alcatel alike share the goal of enabling DSL providers to offer revenue-generating services with decreasing operational expense and guaranteed quality of service.
"Alcatel is one of the first equipment vendors to receive TL9000 certification in Europe," said Willem Verbiest, president of Alcatel's DSL activities. "In achieving early certification, Alcatel is clearly demonstrating its dedication to achieving new benchmarks for quality and service as well as our continued commitment to customer value."
TL9000 certification applies to Alcatel's SpeedTouch range of DSL modems and routers, and Alcatel's 7300 Advanced Services Access Manager (ASAM), the world's most widely deployed broadband access platform that offers bundled DSL-based services with minimum incremental investment.
Alcatel will receive the TL9000 certificate for Europe at a formal presentation at the QuEST Forum meeting in Berlin on July 10, 2001.
About QuEST / TL9000
The Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications Leadership Forum (QuEST Forum) was founded to foster continued improvements to the quality and reliability of telecommunications service. The QuEST Forum establishes and maintains a common set of quality management system requirements and measurements built on currently used industry standards, including ISO9000:2000. The resulting TL9000 Requirements and TL9000 Measurements promote consistency and efficiency, reduce redundancy and improve customer satisfaction.
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000 and 110,000 employees, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
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