Senator Richard Alston, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, officially opened the Nortel Networks i2004 telephone production facility at GPC Electronics in July. The i2004 is at the cutting edge of Internet telephony and Nortel Networks anticipates export revenues in excess of $34 million in the first year of production.

Reg Bird, President of Service Provider Solutions South Asia, Nortel Networks, Masood Tariq, President of Service Provider Solutions Asia, Nortel Networks, and Christopher Janssen, Managing Director, GPC Electronics, attended the launch.

The i2004 is designed for converged networks, with telephony and data networks able to run over the same infrastructure based on Internet Protocol (IP). This allows customers to simplify their networks, balancing user-functionality needs and management benefits, which results in reduced costs.

“The i2004 gives us an opportunity to invest in technology and develop our processes to help us keep ahead in a rapidly moving and competitive industry,” Christopher Janssen said. He credited Nortel Networks with assisting GPC Electronics to develop world class capabilities.

“Other multinational companies invest in bricks and mortar, Nortel Networks invests in jobs and technology giving them the freedom to move quickly to meet changes in the industry,” Christopher said.

Reg Bird also emphasised the importance of Nortel Networks sharing skills and technology with GPC Electronics employees when he spoke about the i2004 contract at the launch.

Masood Tariq highlighted the growing importance of Internet telephony in the Asia/Pacific region. “Internet telephony will be a key technology in the Asia/ Pacific region,” Masood said. “It will enable emerging countries and economies to establish new and better networks with the latest technology at much lower costs than traditional networks.” Only weeks before the opening of the i2004 production line, Telstra announced it had selected Nortel Networks as primary infrastructure supplier for its ‘New Generation Telephony’ (NGT), a converged multi-service offering expected to deliver advanced IP voice and data services to millions of users.

In closing Masood Tariq focused in on Nortel Network’s commitment to long term relationships in the region and referred to the company’s relationship with GPC Electronics as a living example of the added value to be gained from close and continuing local partnerships.

“Nortel Networks is firmly committed to Australia, we’re committed to the evolution of Internet telephony, and we intend to continue demonstrating that commitment by generating new jobs and more export dollars in the years to come,” Masood Tariq said.