Alcatel and HP to Team With Telecom Service Providers to Strengthen Small and Medium Business Solutions(email this article)

GENEVA, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcatel (NYSE: ALA and Paris: CGEP.PA) and HP (NYSE: HPQ - News) today announced they will jointly develop and market a suite of advanced, integrated IT and communication solutions specifically designed for small and medium businesses (SMBs). As part of the agreement, HP (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies) and Alcatel are launching a new Ready Office program for SMBs. Alcatel and HP are partnering with leading telecommunications service providers throughout the world to provide SMB customers with modular, turn-key solutions to address their productivity needs -- from PCs and servers, to software, network access, voice, data and multimedia services.

The comprehensive solutions package will be available in a "pay per use" model to meet and grow with the service needs of the SMB customer. Through the Ready Office program, Alcatel and HP are enabling service providers to offer a single point of contact for service and support to SMBs. SMBs will be able to easily integrate voice, data and Internet access with reliable technologies that work better together and are easy to own.

France Telecom will be the first telecom service provider to join the Alcatel and HP initiative. This is the first example of how service providers can more effectively address the huge SMB market for services. France Telecom will take advantage of its leadership in Internet/Intranet networking and communication services, and of direct and indirect distribution channels. It will leverage Alcatel's and HP's deep understanding of service providers and their undisputed knowledge of the SMB customer segment and channel. SMBs in France will have a single point of contact for the entire solution based on Alcatel-HP and France Telecom products and services.

"This agreement with HP leverages Alcatel's global knowledge of service providers and draws upon our leadership positions in broadband access and in selling enterprise communications services to a global base of customers. Now we can deliver the industry's broadest suite of advanced business services to the SMB market," said Mr Tchuruk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alcatel. "By selecting the Alcatel and HP offering, telecom service providers will broaden their SMB customer base, and improve customer loyalty," he said.

Alcatel and HP are working with telecommunication service providers around the world to offer managed delivery of voice, data and multi-media applications such as IT (PC support, remote configuration and management, software upgrades) and business communications services (telephony, messaging, conferencing, contact center) to SMB customers.

"HP is the worldwide leader in the SMB customer segment today generating more than $21 billion in revenue annually and we are pleased to work with Alcatel to create integrated solutions designed to remove the complexity SMBs worldwide face when trying to purchase and set up their computing and telecommunications environments. This joint offering will enable SMBs to get more out of their IT and telecommunications while enabling them to spend more time focused on running their businesses," said Carly Fiorina, HP Chairman and chief executive officer.

According to Camille Mendler, Research Director, The Yankee Group, "The key challenge in today's market is to provide simplicity and convenience. Alcatel and HP have designed off-the-shelf service and equipment bundles designed to appeal to the SMB, a customer that wants to buy business solutions, rather than technology. This important partnership illustrates the changing role of equipment vendors in the telecommunications supply chain. Telecom service providers are looking beyond technology solutions to the commercial services that equipment vendors can also supply."

In addition to providing this combination of IT and communication services, both companies will leverage their extensive network of indirect distribution channels so that service providers, including their own integrated channel, can benefit from a powerful go-to-market capability offered by the certified channel partners. Finally, Alcatel and HP will provide professional services to support the operators throughout the various phases of the delivery of these new services, from business planning to commercial deployment.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium businesses. For the last four quarters, HP revenue totalled $71.8 billion. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

About Alcatel

Alcatel provides end-to-end communications solutions, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver content to any type of user, anywhere in the world. Leveraging its long-term leadership in telecommunications network equipment as well as its expertise in applications and network services, Alcatel enables its customers to focus on optimizing their service offerings and revenue streams. With sales of EURO 16.5 billion in 2002, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com