Marconi Establishes Enterprise Technology Centers

    PITTSBURGH and ATLANTA, NETWORLD + INTEROP, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ --
 Marconi (LONDON: MNI), a global supplier of advanced communications
 solutions, today announced the establishment of Enterprise Technology Centers.
 The centers are charged with speeding delivery of best-in-breed solutions to
 Marconi's Enterprise clients and with enabling quicker time-to-market
 development of new solutions across all Marconi business platforms.
     (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000504/MARCLOGO )
     The first three Enterprise Technology Centers are based in San Jose,
 California; Vienna Virginia; and Israel.  The Center in San Jose, which had
 been responsible for management of Marconi's Gigabit Ethernet solutions, now
 will broaden its research focus to include development of application-oriented
 platforms, connection-oriented uplinks between connection and connectionless
 networks, deep-packet inspection solutions and predictable quality of service.
     The other Enterprise Technology Centers will focus on adding artificial
 intelligence to Enterprise networking.  The center in Israel will concentrate
 its research and development on AI-based network behavior and the Virginia
 center will focus on AI-based network management.
     As the three technology centers focus on research and development,
 dedicated teams based at Marconi's world headquarters in Pittsburgh will
 manage business planning and product management for Marconi's Ethernet and ATM
 product families.
     "Marconi's new San Jose Technology Center, and the other two Enterprise
 Technology Centers, will enable delivery of the best possible solutions to our
 customers.  The product development teams now based in Pittsburgh will enable
 Marconi to direct a laser-like focus on business solutions for Marconi's
 Enterprise and Service Provider customers.  The new organization enhances
 Marconi's ability to help our customers find the quickest path to market
 with revenue-building and cost-cutting solutions," said Joe Pajer, executive
 vice president and general manager of Marconi's Routing & Switching Products
 Division.
     The Enterprise Technology Centers and product development teams continue
 Marconi's execution of a comprehensive plan to establish a leadership
 position in providing solutions to Enterprise customers.  Marconi's recent
 moves in the enterprise networking market include the appointment in May of
 Wayne Benoit as vice president of the Enterprise Platforms group and the
 announcement in July of a high-performance family of Ethernet Switch Routers,
 the ESR(TM)-5000 and ESR-6000 line of Gigabit Ethernet switches.
     "For Enterprises, the network is the core of their business.  Enterprises
 need a network that is reliable, fast and secure, one that is adaptable to new
 business conditions and transparent to users, whether they are suppliers,
 customers or employees.  Marconi's new Technology Center is devoted to
 delivering easy-to-use networks based on best-in-breed solutions so our
 customers can concentrate on their resources on what counts for them --
 winning new business," said Benoit.
 
     Research Focuses of San Jose Technology Center
     The San Jose Technology Center is focusing on four main research efforts:
 Increasing the number of Marconi switches capable of delivering application
 aware agents such as firewalls and file and e-mail transfer protocols;
 creating open architectures that will support a variety of switch and router
 functions; enabling Class of Service (CoS) and Quality of Service (QoS) in
 Ethernet networks; and developing advanced techniques for deep packet
 inspection.
     One example of how the Technology Center's research enables other Marconi
 business groups to speed solutions to market is the use by Marconi's
 Integrated Access Devices Platforms group of mini-remote monitoring.  Mini-
 remote monitoring was originally developed for Marconi's ESX(TM) and
 NSX(TM) line of multi-Gigbit switches.  Once tested for the ESX and NSX
 portfolio, the IAD group was able to add the feature to its product portfolio,
 an efficiency that produces cost-savings and improved solutions for
 Marconi's Enterprise customers.
     "Not only will we be developing the technologies that enable new products
 and platforms in the Enterprise group, but we'll `bank' the technologies for
 use by Marconi's other platform groups as they need it.  It's a way for
 Marconi to take advantage of our broad portfolio of business solutions for
 Enterprises and Service Providers," said Anthony Adams, director of the San
 Jose Technology Center.
 
     About Marconi plc
     Marconi plc is a global communications and IT company with 49,000
 employees worldwide and sales in over 100 countries.  It supplies advanced
 communications solutions and the key technologies and services for the
 Internet.  Marconi plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol
 MNI.  The headquarters of Marconi Communications is in Pittsburgh, PA.
 
     All brands or product names are trademarks of their respective holders.
 
     For more information, contact Geof Becker, Media Relations of Marconi,
 724-742-6377, or Email, geof.becker@marconi.com
 
 

SOURCE  Marconi plc

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