Marconi Introduces Advanced Software for Network Modeling and Planning, Enables Service Providers to Optimize Network Resources by Predicting Behavior

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 11 -- Marconi (London: MNI), a global supplier of advanced communications solutions, today introduced its new ServiceOn Modeler -- advanced planning software designed to take the guess work out of network management.

"Today's networking environment is marked by rapid and unpredictable network growth," said Dave Lewis, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Optical Networks and Network Management, Marconi. "In response to this challenge, ServiceOn Modeler will enable business planning managers and network architects to identify potential capacity bottlenecks and performance choke points long before business users and paying customers are impacted."

Marconi and industry award winning OPNET Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPNT - news), a provider of intelligent network management software, signed an agreement in order to quickly bring this advanced technology to service providers worldwide. "Marconi's decision to work with OPNET underscores the value of our predictive software for service providers worldwide," said Alain Cohen, Chief Technology Officer at OPNET. "ServiceOn Modeler, with OPNET under the hood, adds a layer of intelligence to service provider networks -- enabling continual performance optimization."

Marconi's ServiceOn Modeler, used in conjunction with ServiceOn Foundation(TM), can instantly take a snapshot of the current network, enabling analysis and creation reports of certain "what-if" scenarios. Built in conjunction with OPNET, the product enables service providers to not only plan for network growth, but create the confidence that new services can be delivered to customers on given network resources.

Marconi ServiceOn Modeler

ServiceOn Modeler, available at the end of Q3 2000, uses live network topology information to automatically create a network model, from which simulations are created. Operators can view the effects of network growth on the model by simply adding or deleting devices from the Marconi palette. ServiceOn Modeler can be extended to model third-party devices within the subnetwork. ServiceOn Modeler is the most recent product addition to the Marconi ServiceOn Management(TM) suite.

About Marconi ServiceOn Management

ServiceOn Management is a comprehensive, integrated portfolio of multi- vendor OSS, service and network management solutions that enable service providers to more effectively deliver, manage, model and bill for a broad range of value-added services. Designed to support all types of broadband, transport and access networks --including Internet protocol (IP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), SONET (synchronous optical networking), DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) and SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) -- this scalable suite of products and solutions enables service providers to simply and cost-effectively manage their entire network, end-to-end.

About OPNET Technologies, Inc.

The OPNET family of intelligent network management software enables customers to optimize the performance and maximize the availability of communications networks and networked applications. The OPNET product suite combines predictive simulations and a comprehensive understanding of networking technologies to enable network professionals to more effectively design and deploy networks, diagnose network and application performance problems, and predict the impact of proposed network modifications. For more information, visit www.opnet.com.

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. Additional information about Marconi and Marconi Communications can be found at www.marconi.com.

ServiceOn Management, ServiceOn Modeler, and ServiceOn Foundation are trademarks of Marconi, plc.

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Note to editors: The word OPNET is spelled with all upper-case letters.

OPNET Media Contact:
Margarita Castillo
OPNET Technologies, Inc.
(240) 497-3000
Media@opnet.com
www.opnet.com

OPNET Investor Relations:
Mel Wesley
OPNET Technologies
(240) 497-3000
ir@opnet.com
www.opnet.com