Best practices for cost effectively supporting the explosion of intelligent applications and wireless devices

Next Generation Communications Blog

Best practices for cost effectively supporting the explosion of intelligent applications and wireless devices

The new year is upon us, and with that comes the hope and expectation of a number of live LTE-based network rollouts, particularly from Verizon Wireless, which is expected to turn up LTE in as many as 30 markets by the end of the year.
 
Phillip Marshall of the Yankee Group noted in a video commentary on the state of LTE at the end of 2009 that the turning of the year brought with it a real sense that the industry is really getting much closer to the commercialization - particularly in North America. Of course, in order to make that vision a reality, Verizon had to ensure it signed on the best possible vendors for its LTE network.
 
"The selection of Alcatel-Lucent and [Ericsson] for our LTE network requirements was really based on a lot more than just price," explained Dick Lynch, EVP and CTO of Verizon Communications. "It was based on a variety of factors."
 
Lynch explained that Verizon had to ask a few key questions as it sought out its technology partners for LTE back in February:
  • Who had the technology under best control?
  • Who had the hardware ready?
  • Who had the software ready?
  • Who had integrated it well enough to demonstrate a level of confidence they could deliver it at the end of 2009?
What gives vendors like Alcatel-Lucent an edge over others is its longstanding history in the wireline network space, which, as Stephane Teral from Infonetics Research notes, is not unlike what is now going on with the transition to IP-based wireless networks. Alcatel-Lucent is able to look back at what worked with wireline transition to IP, and what didn't, and is able to leverage that to drive the migration of wireless networks.
 
The move to 4G wireless, of course, is being driven by the increase in wireless data services and applications, and the need for higher-throughput infrastructures and devices to support those services. To take advantage of that trend, service providers are beginning to understand that they need to become much more than dumb pipes, or connectivity providers, and leverage their core assets in a way that allows them to better monetize their network resources by focusing more closely on the applications and content that is driving the wireless industry today, including personalized and location-based services.
 
Alcatel-Lucent, in addition to having proven expertise in the network technology required to build out LTE networks, has also looked to build an developer ecosystem through its ng Connect program, which brings together developers from various industries to collaborate and bring new and innovative services, applications, and devices to market that leverage 4G technologies.
 
"Through the ecosystem that ng Connect brings together, there is really the opportunity to accelerate the availability and applicability of end user experiences, content, services, that really leverage the 4th generation set of technologies," says Omar Khan, SVP of Samsung, which is part of the ng Connect ecosystem.
 
The idea is to provide a forum for representatives from various industries to come together to discover opportunities to create intelligent wireless applications for both specialized markets as well as general the subscriber base. Programs like ng Connect allow vendors from different industries to work collaboratively in a way that will allow network operators and developers and content providers to all benefit from the LTE networks that will soon become commonplace.
 
By providing such an open forum, Alcatel-Lucent is also encouraging ng Connect members to embrace the need to operators and developers/content providers to work more closely and more openly to benefit each other, as well as the subscriber community.
 
As Tune Wiki Chairman, CEO, and Founder Rani Cohen accurately notes, "You need to get a group of innovators that will pull the industry ahead of its current position."
 
That's what Alcatel-Lucent's ng Connect program is doing, enabled by Alcatel-Lucent's own network technology heritage - bringing together the most innovative minds to work towards a common goal and deliver best practices for a new generation of wireless technologies.


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