Lucent Technologies and UM Expand Their Collaboration in Development of New Technology

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) and the University of Maryland, College Park today announced a Memorandum of Understanding that expands their strategic relationship, which includes research collaboration, e-business development, and the application of Lucent information technology in the living and learning environment at the university's College Park campus.

The agreement proposes three new initiatives: First, Lucent will design and equip a "digital residence hall" at the university to serve students selected for the university's Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities Program. This facility will become a showcase for advanced Lucent communications solutions including multimedia messaging, videoconferencing, and high speed wireless voice and data networking. Students will use these applications as they build and run their own businesses. Lucent will develop an area within the campus' Office of Information Technology to showcase these advanced capabilities for the entire university community as well as Lucent's customer base.

Second, Lucent will become an anchor tenant in the University of Maryland's proposed new Technology Park, to be developed in proximity to the College Park campus. Lucent will house about 100 research associates and staff in the facility when it is completed in two years.

Third, Lucent and the university also will collaborate on e-business initiatives that will serve the University of Maryland as well as the State of Maryland's eMaryland program, which is a project to create the most advanced e-business environment in the United States. In addition to development and testing, these initiatives will expose select university students to leading-edge e-business tools.

"The University of Maryland is a leader in the development and application of information technologies," said University President C.D. Mote, Jr. "Its influence is particularly felt in the exploding digital economy of the nation's Capital Region, which is rapidly becoming the center of the global web-based economy. Lucent Technologies and its research engine, Bell Laboratories, are at the forefront of the development and realization of the next generation networks which will power this new economy."

"We are very excited about this opportunity to deepen our relationship with an innovation leader like the University of Maryland," said Bill O'Shea, president and CEO of Lucent Enterprise Networks. "We look forward to working with the university to develop the future -- and our future business leaders."

In addition to these newly announced initiatives, Lucent will continue to support the following joint programs now underway with the University of Maryland:

• Trailblazer This student-inspired initiative aims to create technology-savvy business leaders. Lucent and the University of Maryland provide oversight and guidance to the program, which is designed to give students the experience and skills they need to be successful in the rapidly changing technology marketplace.

• Mentoring. Eleven Lucent executives are engaged in active mentoring with University of Maryland students under the auspices of the VALUE (Visionaries And Leaders Unleashing Excellence) program. Over the course of a semester, the executives share life lessons with the students, giving them a jump-start on their careers and competitive advantage for the future.

• Technology Trialniversity of Maryland has and will continue to participate in beta tests of new Lucent products such as DEFINITY IP Solutions with Voice over IP telephones, which put voice conversations on data networks.

• Optical Networking Project. Lucent Technologies in collaboration with the University of Maryland and other institutions will begin joint research into ultra-high bandwidth applications over optical facilities.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its web site at www.lucent.com.

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