Educational Institutions in Midwest Gain Discounts and More Choices for Communications...

Educational Institutions in Midwest Gain Discounts and More Choices for
Communications and Collaboration With MHEC and Alcatel-Lucent

MURRAY HILL, N.J., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Midwestern Higher Education
Compact (MHEC) opened up new communications opportunities for its members by
bringing on Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) as an approved
vendor of voice and data networking solutions. By using the MHEC contract,
higher education institutions, K-12 districts and schools and
education-related nonprofit organizations in a dozen states can more easily
and economically advance their communications networks with Alcatel-Lucent
communication products, solutions and services.

As an approved vendor, Alcatel-Lucent offers special pricing and packages to
educational institutions within MHEC member states. "Being able to reduce
costs and still get quality products and services is so important to our
states right now," said MHEC President Larry Isaak. "This agreement with
Alcatel-Lucent is an opportunity for institutions to take advantage of the
capabilities that advanced communications equipment and services can bring to
the classroom."

MHEC is the Midwest's largest interstate resource-sharing commission for
higher education, one of only four such interstate compacts nationally. The
MHEC Technologies Committee promotes technology products and services that
support education needs, expands training opportunities, and advocates on
behalf of education in new product development. It also leverages the
combined volume of education organizations in MHEC member states to negotiate
favorable agreements with technology vendors. MHEC serves Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio,
South Dakota and Wisconsin, reaching over 1,000 universities, with over four
million students.

Building on its global expertise in communications network infrastructure and
the innovative heritage of Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent offers solutions that
enable educational organizations to become more safe, secure, "green" and
mobile.

Alcatel-Lucent Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution allows an
institution to centralize its main voice switches and extend remote call
servers with back up circuits at each campus building to reduce telephony
costs. IP networking provides the bandwidth and security needed by students
and faculty for on-campus communications and offers industry ranking low-power
consumption. And wireless local area network (WLAN) solutions provide
students and faculty the ability to gain Internet access anywhere, creating a
more interactive learning environment for students.

"Alcatel-Lucent believes educational institutions can be more successful by
linking their networks, people and processes to simplify communications,
better engage students and secure their campuses," said Helle Kristoffersen,
Vice President of Vertical Markets for Alcatel-Lucent. "Fundamentally, it's
about connecting knowledge in real time to differentiate the quality of
education and the overall quality of the institution. As an approved vendor
for MHEC, we are positioned to help our customers such as Missouri's Lincoln
University to leverage its investment in communications. The MHEC contract
helps us extend the opportunity to additional educational institutions across
the United States," she added.

Lincoln University hosts an Alcatel-Lucent network and has rounded out their
voice, data and wireless communications for students, faculty and staff
through the MHEC contract.

More information about Alcatel-Lucent education, collaboration and safe campus
solutions is available online. And for more information on Alcatel-Lucent's
MHEC involvement, please see www.mhectech.org/alcatel-lucent.

About MHEC
The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), founded in 1991, consists of
twelve states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. MHEC sponsors a
variety of programs to reduce costs, to increase student access and to conduct
policy research and analysis. The Compact is statutorily created and governed
by a board comprised of five commissioners from each member state.
Commissioners include legislators, governors' representatives and higher
education leaders. For more information about this agreement, visit
www.mhectech.org/alcatel-lucent.

About the Alcatel-Lucent dynamic enterprise vision
Alcatel-Lucent helps enterprises worldwide turn every interaction into a
business opportunity. By interconnecting their core assets -- network, people,
processes and knowledge -- dynamic enterprises realize competitive advantage
through strengthened relationships, simplified communications, and improved
performance.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of
service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions
to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader
in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies,
applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical
and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation
powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130
countries and the most experienced global services organization in the
industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach.
Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 16.98 billion in 2008 and is
incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more
information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet:
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent

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