EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Wisconsin Independent Network* (WIN*), a fiber-based carrier and bandwidth provider in Wisconsin and Minnesota, has selected metropolitan-area fiber optic equipment from Nortel Networks* [NYSE/TSE: NT] to expand its network in southeastern Minnesota and western and central Wisconsin.

WIN, a carrier's carrier, will deploy the Nortel Networks OPTera* Metro Multiservice Platform in a new SONET ring. OPTera Metro is a fiber optic transport system.

"As we continue to grow our network, we have increasingly relied on Nortel Networks to provide winning solutions in fiber optic networking for metropolitan areas," said Scott Hoffmann, executive director, WIN. "OPTera Metro is superior to other solutions we examined."

"As a builder of the high-performance Internet, we are committed to providing carriers large and small with optical networking solutions - for global networks, or for regional SONET rings like those WIN is deploying," said Brian McFadden, vice-president, Metro Optical Solutions, Nortel Networks.

WIN currently operates a 600-mile SONET ring in Wisconsin and Minnesota that runs through Minneapolis and the Wisconsin cities of Eau Claire and Superior. With completion of the new SONET ring in the fall of this year - along with a new fiber route to Phillips, Wis. - the WIN network will extend 670 miles from Eau Claire, Wis.; through Rochester and Winona, Minn.; through La Crosse, Wis.; through a number of other Wisconsin communities; through Wisconsin Rapids; to just outside of Wausau, Wis. It will have 24 points of presence (POPs) throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota, with more planned for 2001.

The network will operate initially as an OC-48 SONET network, with plans for future upgrades via Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM).

Nortel Networks is the global market leader in delivering high-performance optical solutions in the DWDM and SONET/SDH markets, according to the Dell'Oro Group, an independent research and consulting firm. Dell'Oro also confirms Nortel Networks' leadership in the DWDM metro arena with a 71.1 percent market share.

Nortel Networks is a global Internet and communications leader with capabilities spanning Optical, Wireless, Local Internet and eBusiness. The Company had 1999 U.S. GAAP revenues of US$21.3 billion and serves carrier, service provider and enterprise customers globally. Today, Nortel Networks is creating a high-performance Internet that is more reliable and faster than ever before. It is redefining the economics and quality of networking and the Internet, promising a new era of collaboration, communications and commerce. Visit us at www.nortelnetworks.com.

*Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo, the Globemark and OPTera are trademarks of Nortel Networks. Wisconsin Independent Network and WIN are trademarks of Wisconsin Independent Network.