Next Generation Communications Blog

January 2011

You are browsing the archive for January 2011.

How to Drive Exceptional Customer Experiences Using Web 2.0

By Tracey Schelmetic

Web 2.0. You've heard of it. Maybe even dabbled in it personally. But is it right for your business? If you're very, very brave, chances are you're a veteran with it, marketing via social networking and building online communities.



Best Practices for Monetizing New Telco Applications

By Mae Kowalke


Like several other major wireless service providers, AT&T is in the gradual process of converting its networks to Long Term Evolution (LTE), the fourth-generation mobile communications standard that promises faster speeds and more advanced capabilities.

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To make LTE migration possible, AT&T has partnered with Alcatel-Lucent. Together, the two companies have an ambitious goal to create, as AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey put it in a recent video, “one of the best wireless networks in the world.”

Since AT&T has been committed to GSM for a long time, the transition to LTE is natural, Stankey said.


Service Providers Challenged to Deliver Next Gen Services to Wide Range of Devices

By Susan Campbell

One thing that is constant in the mobile services industry is the reality of fragmentation among devices. As there is no common operating system or theme among the variety of devices out there, application developers must be able to create solutions that appeal to consumers across multiple platforms. At the same time, service providers must be able to deliver these applications to a full range of subscriber devices.

These challenges can be difficult to overcome without a proven partner to help along the way.

How Smart Desk Phones Are Revolutionizing Enterprise Communications

By Mae Kowalke

Next gen communications technologies, including smart desk phones, are revolutionizing operations at enterprises. The ability to converge voice and data networks and provide real value to clients represents a major opportunity for companies like Alcatel-Lucent.

Two examples from recent Alcatel-Lucent case studies and white papers illustrate innovative ways new communications technology is being deployed to make a real-world difference.

First, there is Alcatel-Lucent’s campus safety systems, which provide peace of mind of educators, staff, students and parents. By monitoring high-risk areas, solutions like Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch My Teamwork Land Mobile Radio Conference and Collaboration system enable administrators, safety personnel and first responders to work seamlessly together in the development and implementation of robust emergency response plans.



Alcatel-Lucent: Consumers Want Access to Same Content on Any Screen, Around the Clock

By Ed Silverstein

Consumers today want to be able to have a multi-screen experience. They also want to have simplified content delivery. Combining both of these needs, there are some key ways that service providers can improve the users’ multi-screen experience.

Alcatel-Lucent says that consumers just don’t want to be able to watch content.

Improve Visibility into Operations Using Business Activity Monitoring Tools

By Tracey Schelmetic

It's a challenge every business faces eventually: keeping your customers during an economic downturn. You may not have the marketing budget to prospect for more customers, and you may not have the budget to launch new, flashy product lines, but you have no choice about one thing: you need to keep the customers you have. In other words, you need to figure out how to prevent churn, oftentimes with fewer human and technology resources than you had just a few months ago.

So what advantage is it that the companies who manage to do just this have over the companies that don't? Best-in-class performance, according to a white paper from Aberdeen Group.

Alcatel-Lucent: Market 'More than Ready' for Multi-screen Services

By Susan Campbell

Consumers today are carrying multiple devices and service providers need to develop solutions that enable rich content delivery and applications across all of those devices if they hope to be able to effectively compete in this market. This is especially true as the line between traditional broadcast TV and online multimedia content is quickly blurring.

Today’s consumer wants to be able to watch TV and video content without having to be tied to a fixed program schedule or the home television. Consumers are rapidly adopting more flexible viewing experiences that include connected and mobile devices, such as tablets, smartphones, PCs, netbooks and more.

Knowing the Value of Your Network Capabilities


By Tracey Schelmetic

Apps. We're crazy for them, much to the gratification of those who build them and those who sell them.

As a growing number of network providers are investing to speed the delivery of new services to an increasingly more demanding consumer and enterprise market, many of these companies are finding value in supporting the delivery of third-party applications. With the success of Apple's App Store, consumers are demanding more and better apps, and the network companies are very happy to provide them. Mobile network providers serve over two billion subscribers collectively — nearly half of the global mobile subscriber base, and that number is expected to go nowhere but up. Network companies are eager to increase their time-to-market, and spur innovation, but competition is fierce and the terrain is new: companies need to truly understand what the best approach to take in application development is.



There are a lot of options, and most network providers differ from one another greatly in their approaches to developing and marketing apps: some providers are investing heavily in recruitment and training of developers; some are tapping into existing developer communities; some appear to be courting the media’s attention, whereas others are holding closed beta tests of their application enablement platforms.


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