Nortel Finalizes Purchase of Alteon WebSystems

[Markham, CANADA] Nortel Networks has now concluded its acquisition
of Alteon WebSystems, a major content networking player.

The merger was first announced earlier this year (see:
Nortel
Acquires Alteon for 7.8
Billion, July 28, 2000
and
Nortel
Pulls Power Move on Rivals, July 28, 2000
).

The acquisition was effected by the merger of a wholly owned
subsidiary of Nortel Networks with and into Alteon.

As a result of the merge, each outstanding share of Alteon common
stock was converted into a right to receive 1.83148 Nortel Networks
common shares.

Alteon WebSystems common stock will no longer trade on the Nasdaq.

Nortel issued approximately 82 million common shares in connection
with the merger.

The new business unit provides Nortel customers with content
networking capabilities to deliver rather robust, reliable,
high-performance Web server infrastructure.

The new Content Networking will span the Optical Internet, Wireless
Internet, Local Internet, and E-Business. As a result, service
providers, Internet data centers, Web hosters, and portals are
expected to be able to improve their reliability, speed, and
profitability.

“This is a milestone in our efforts to bring a new level of
intelligence and personalization to the Internet,” said Clarence
Chandran, Nortel’s chief operating officer.

“The high-performance Internet will be able to prioritize and speed
information to its destination by looking beyond the IP address and
into the content sent by any given user.”

Founded in May 1996, Alteon WebSystems employs a staff of over 600
around the world. It was a pioneer in the concept of Web switching.

For more background on Alteon, see:

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