Welcome to the major leagues of debt. Collateralized debt obligations, almost always referred to as a CDOs, are horrendously complicated deals that often leave anyone without a MBA wondering what was put into these CDOs.

The first thing to understand about bonds, (aka debt) is that bonds are often backed by something else. Think about your home mortgage. If you don't pay your mortgage, the bank can take the house. You end up homeless, and the bank sells the house to pay off the rest of that mortgage. There is something "backing" that mortgage; something lender can fall back on, if you don't pay your bills like a good human being. That's called collateral.

CDOs are one flavor of an entire sector of investing called structured finance, and they are also backed. CDOs, in the simplest concept, are just bonds backed by something else. In most cases, a CDO is backed by a collection of various types of debt. CDOs can be home mortgages, or other types of debt like credit cards, auto loans, and personal loans. Most of these types of debt are usually considered a bit more risky and they don't have the backing that a home loan does. So, if you think it through, you can imagine that CDOs are usually considered a risky investment.

To take a step further, understand that CDOs have multiple flavors within each CDO. These flavors are called tranches. If you've taken French, you might recognize the word, it means "slice" or "portion." Each slice of that CDO you invest in is a little different and carries different amounts of risk.

You could invest in the lowest risk tranche of the CDO, which would provide you lower risk. But, you don't get a good return on that investment. Or, you can be the heroic adventurer of bonds and invest in the lowest-grade tranche of the CDO. You'll make an amazing return, but if the economy even looks at you wrong, you might lose the entire investment.

CDOs aren¿t easy, and are almost always invested in by mutual funds, insurance companies and hedge funds. As an individual investor, you will probably not come across a CDO you can participate in.

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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Alcatel-Lucent Receives Mobile WiMAX(TM) Certification From the WiMAX Forum(R)

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PARIS, Sep 04, 2008 (PR Newswire Europe via COMTEX) ----Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been awarded the WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) seal of approval for its WiMAX 802.16e Compact Base Station at 2.5GHz. This achievement further confirms Alcatel-Lucent's leadership in WiMAX and its commitment to accelerate the development of a global and open WiMAX(TM) eco-system.

Alcatel-Lucent's infrastructure portfolio is made up of products that strictly comply with the 802.16e-2005 standard (also called Rev-e), which supports fixed, nomadic and mobile services. The company's "Open CPE Program" is helping to accelerate the availability of terminals by encompassing comprehensive interoperability testing programs with WiMAX chipset and end-user device suppliers.

This significant milestone is also the first step toward the certification of the company's entire portfolio of WiMAX solutions already available in other licensed frequency bands and deployed in several networks worldwide, including some in commercial service today in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Alcatel-Lucent expects its 3.5GHz equipment to be WiMAX Forum Certified by end of 2008.

"Alcatel-Lucent is proud to receive the WiMAX Forum Certified designation, which acknowledges the development efforts we have made over the last four years," said Karim El Naggar, Vice President and head of Alcatel-Lucent's WiMAX activities. "Customers can be confident that Alcatel-Lucent's WiMAX solution complies with the most stringent requirements of the standard and smoothly interoperates with any WiMAX Forum Certified device."

Karim El Naggar pointed out that, unique in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent systematically guarantees strict alignment of features and compliance at 2.3, 2.5 and 3.5GHz, as part of its global mobile WiMAX(TM) strategy. He noted that with 30 commercial contracts and more than 70 trials around the world, "Alcatel-Lucent is the undisputed leader in the WiMAX market," he said.

Currently the WiMAX Forum has more than 530 member companies including service providers, regulators, equipment vendors, chip vendors and content providers. Alcatel-Lucent is a member of the WiMAX Forum board.

"The first series of Mobile WiMAX certifications by the WiMAX Forum represent a critical milestone for the WiMAX industry as it will further accelerate the availability of interoperable solutions and ensure widespread adoption and deployment of WiMAX technology and products," said Ron Resnick, President of the WiMAX Forum. "Alcatel-Lucent is playing a key role in taking that important step with the WiMAX Forum, enabling the global WiMAX community to benefit from fully interoperable infrastructures and devices."

To earn this certification, Alcatel-Lucent's 802.16e WiMAX products underwent rigorous and extensive series of tests by the WiMAX Forum's lead certification laboratory partner, AT4 wireless, spanning protocol conformance, radio conformance and interoperability testing.

"Achieving Mobile WiMAX certification is the result of the teamwork between leading wireless companies and our lab people, the most experienced in WiMAX certification testing world-wide. That is why AT4 wireless would like to thank Alcatel-Lucent for its key contribution towards putting in place the necessary process and tools," said Fernando E. Hardasmal, Deputy General Director at AT4 wireless.

In addition to being a board member of the WiMAX Forum, Alcatel-Lucent is a founding member of the Open Patent Alliance formed by key industry players to advance WIMAX 4G technology.

About WiMAX Forum(R)

The WiMAX Forum(R) is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard. WiMAX Forum Certified products are interoperable and support broadband fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile services. Along these lines, the WiMAX Forum(R) works closely with service providers and regulators to ensure that WiMAX Forum Certified systems meet customer and government requirements. Through the WiMAX Forum Congress Events Series of global trade shows and events, the WiMAX Forum is committed to furthering education, training and collaboration to expand the reach of the WiMAX ecosystem. For more information, visit the trade show link at http://www.wimaxforum.org

"WiMAX Forum" is a registered trademark of the WiMAX Forum. "WiMAX," the WiMAX Forum logo, "WiMAX Forum Certified," and the WiMAX Forum Certified logo are trademarks of the WiMAX Forum. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

About AT4 wireless

AT4 wireless, a global supplier of Testing Solutions for wireless technologies prides itself on being both, the most complete Wireless Certification & Testing Laboratory in the world and a leading manufacturer of cutting-edge test & measurement equipment for telecommunication technologies. With the largest coverage in different technologies (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, HSPA, LTE, WiMAX, Bluetooth(R), Wi-Fi(R), RFID, NFC and EPC) and a portfolio that ranges from conformance, regulatory and interoperability testing to world-wide compliance services AT4 wireless' Test Laboratory offers a one-stop-shop approach for the certification of telecommunication devices. With our world-class self-developed Test Systems MINT, BITE and RIDER, AT4 wireless meets all certification aspects like R&TTE, FCC, GCF, PTCRB, WiMAX Forum(R), Wi-Fi Alliance and Bluetooth SIG. AT4 wireless was founded in 1991, has more than 340 employees and operates from it's headquarter in Malaga/Spain and its US-based branch in Herndon/VA. For more information, visit http://www.at4wireless.com./

All trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. As a leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home, at work and on the move. With operations in more than 130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry, and one of the largest research, technology and innovation organizations in the telecommunications industry. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 17.8 billion in 2007 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

Alcatel-Lucent Press Contacts: Regine Coqueran, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-49-24,
   regine.coqueran@alcatel-lucent.com; Mark Burnworth, Tel: +32(3)240-38-81, mark.burnworth@alcatel-lucent.com; Alcatel-Lucent
   Investor Relations: Remi Thomas, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-50-61, remi.thomas@alcatel-lucent.com; Tom Bevilacqua, Tel: +1-908-582-7998,
   bevilacqua@alcatel-lucent.com; Tony Lucido, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-49-80, alucido@alcatel-lucent.com; Don Sweeney Tel: +1-908-582-6153,
   dsweeney@alcatel-lucent.com

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