Next Generation Communications Blog

Alcatel-Lucent Technology News

Alcatel-Lucent to Focus on LTE

As reported on Friday, Alcatel-Lucent plans to undergo some strategic realignment of its core efforts, and among other things it means that there will be less attention on WiMAX in favor of a strategy that calls for a stronger focus on LTE or long-term evolution. Some analysts would think that's merely a prudent reaction to the market.   According to a recent Infonetics report:   ...worldwide sales of fixed and mobile WiMAX equipment and phones/Ultra Mobile PCs dropped 21% to $245 million in 3Q08 from 2Q08, and are expected to continue sliding through 2009 as the economic recession puts the squeeze on this early market.   Even Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff said that his company -- clearly a leading poster child for WiMAX -- would also consider deploying LTE down the road "if it makes sense for us to do so."   Of course, that's not to say that Clearwire is backing away from WiMAX, but it does go to show that equipment manufacturers need to place their bets on one side or the other in this evolving battle, not both. Blogging on the 4G Wireless Evolution site, resident expert Paul Kapustka has more on that subject.

ALU Subsidiary Provides Custom App for U.S. Navy

When it comes to large-scale deployments of next-generation solutions, the military is quite the proving ground.

 

LGS, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent that serves the U.S. government community, announced today that the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) has successfully deployed a custom-designed desktop application for 230,000 users.

 

With this deployment, LGS' LT Viewer is now used by more than 400,000 government users. The desktop application is designed to allow desktop users to view and manage digital engineering data.

 

LT Viewer lets personnel view and manage raster files (a type of graphic image file that includes formats such as JEDMICS C4, TIFF, and CALS).

Telecom New Zealand Chooses Alcatel-Lucent for IP MPLS

When faced with the need to accommodate the need to backhaul traffic from its cellular W-CDMA and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) traffic, Telecom new Zealand turned to Alcatel-Lucent and its IP Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS)-based mobile backhaul solution.
The solution features ALU's pseudowire technology, which is designed to adapts various traffic and media types from the W-CDMA base stations into IP/MPLS. Telecom New Zealand sees this as a benefit for future-proofing their solution, as they transition to a W-CDMA and HSPA deployment. By deploying ALU's solution, the backhaul network will have the flexibility and cost-effective scalability needed to support strong traffic growth and will allow the operator to scale and rapidly roll out innovative mobile broadband services.   According to the release:   Alcatel-Lucent's pseudowire solution includes the 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) which is deployed in cellular base station sites to consolidate and aggregate traffic. The Alcatel-Lucent 7705 SAR allows service providers to scale traffic and simultaneously flatten their cost-curves for leased bandwidth, therefore improving their competitiveness. The 7705 SAR inherits its software architecture from the widely deployed IP/MPLS Service Router product line, retaining and building on its qualities but at a price and form factor appropriate to the cell site and hubs.  

ALU Expands China Telecom Network

Years ago, people looked to areas like China and India as so-called greenfield opportunities. These were places unencumbered by legacy telephony systems, with growing demand and a chance to deploy next-generation communications technologies to address the needs of the region, rather than rely on aging copper wires, crumbling infrastructure etc....   Today we learned that China Telecom, China's leading telecom operator, has selected Alcatel-Lucent to provide an end-to-end solution for the carrier to increase its capacity and coverage of its mobile voice and data network throughout the country.   Valued at $230 million (US) the contract calls for CDMA wireless networking solutions to be deployed in 56 cities of 9 provinces in China. The deployment is currently underway and the expanded network will begin providing commercial services by the end of 2008.   The deployment will comprise a range of base stations designed to fit a variety of scenarios, from usage-heavy urban areas to rural areas where population is scarce.   According to the announcement, the base stations can be readily upgraded to support 3G services in the future.

Estonia: ALU Helps Elion Deliver Triple Play

Alcatel-Lucent this week announced an agreement with Elion Enterprises Ltd., the largest telecommunications provider in Estonia, to offer an improved triple play (voice, data and video) experience to Elion's customers.   Estonia has one of the highest rates of broadband penetration per capita in the world, and its citizens are savvy consumers of next generation services. Still any technological advance that enables more thorough support and simpler management of the deployed solution is a welcome addition by all parties.   To that end, Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its home network management solution, providing streamlined and automated installation and customer support as well as sophisticated diagnostic information, thus helping Elion reduce its operational costs and improve the quality of experience for its subscribers.   "As they introduce advanced triple-play offerings, service providers open customers' homes to devices and applications that create a more complex home environment. To that end, effective home network management is a must-have," said Lars Boilesen, responsible for Alcatel-Lucent's activities in the Nordic and Baltic countries.    

Rich Tehrani Welcomes Next Generation Communications Community

Rich Tehrani, president of TMC and Group Publisher and Editor in Chief of the company's print publications and TMCnet Web site, posted the following entry to his blog today, welcoming Alcatel Lucent and the Next-Generation Communications global online community to the TMCnet family.

 

Rather than pick out bits and pieces, the entire blog is being reposted here for your reading pleasure.

 

Rich's blog can be found here, and we urge you to check back daily to see what he's writing about.

 

 

 

If there is one certainly it is that technology seems to evolve at a faster clip today than at any other time in our lifetimes. Moore's Law is part of this evolution but just as important is convergence.

Beyond Cost Savings: Leveraging VoIP for Innovation

Even in a slow economy, enterprises need to consider purchasing solutions that will help make them more productive, more efficient and better positioned to ward off competitors.   Alcatel-Lucent has launched a new OmniSwitch 9000E, in a move designed to help enterprises make more money while helping workers improve productivity and customer service. TMCnet had a chance to interview Patrick Thorel, director of large enterprise solutions marketing at Alcatel-Lucent, about the new solution, as well as about how this slower economy is fueling interest in unified platforms and the lure of VoIP for large enterprises.   According to Thorel, VoIP's major draw for those companies isn't cost-savings, but gaining a platform for voice application integration and innovation.   To check out the interview, please follow this link.  

In Tough Economy, Innovation Holds the Key

Alcatel-Lucent, currently undergoing a strategy review under their new CEO, recently said that market conditions are forcing the firm to lower their 2008 sales expectations by 2-5 percent, according to this Reuters item.   However, the article also reported that ALU's investor relations chief, Remi Thomas, said he believed "carriers would continue to invest in strategic areas designed to generate new business, in capital equipment that could reduce operating expenses, and to meet regulatory requirements."   It is precisely this need for customers to generate new business that should help firms that develop innovative telecom solutions to weather the financial storms roiling the global markets.   A recent article by Xavier Martin, who handles Strategic Marketing for the Enterprise Solutions Division at Alcatel-Lucent, speaks to the evolution currently underway at enterprises across the globe. In the article, The Dynamic Enterprise - Leveraging 2.0 Applications, the author states that:   Over the next few months and years, a growing number of mid-market, large and multinational companies will learn that significant gains can be made by integrating tangible and intangible organizational assets - network, people, processes and collective knowledge - to boost productivity and efficiency and achieve a competitive advantage.   Martin also speaks of the need for CIOs to evolve in step with the needs of their evolving enterprise to ensure that the technology is implemented in a seamless way to achieve the goals of the organization:   Their new responsibilities make it necessary for them to look beyond technology toward enabling business objectives such as attracting customers and supporting key processes. Thus, in Dynamic Enterprises, CIOs must carefully tailor their portfolio of projects with an eye to realizing a comprehensive business transformation over a period of time.   Check out the full article here.

Laptop Guardian Security Solution Goes Global

In order for all the exciting next-generation communications services to be widely adopted by corporate users, certain conditions must be in place, among them ubiquity and security. Not only do business users need access to their applications everywhere and anywhere, the access they crave must be secure.   Earlier this week, Alcatel-Lucent announced global availability of a high-speed packet access (HSPA) version of its OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian (OA3500 NLG).   This solution is designed to protect and recover stolen laptops and data, and was previously available only on CDMA-based 3G networks. (TMC's Rich Tehrani wrote here about the earlier model, which is offered by Sprint on its CDMA network in the US.)   Furthermore, in a recent survey of 255 executive level IT, security and compliance decision makers in the U.S. and Germany, it turns out that 76 percent of respondents believe it is necessary to protect a lost or stolen laptop with more than encryption alone - such as having the ability to locate the device using GPS and remotely revoking access to data.   And in a finding that should serve as a warning to complacent mobile operators everywhere, 50 percent of companies said they would switch to an operator that offers a security solution that protects lost or stolen laptops used remotely, provides auto virtual private network capabilities, and allows IT to manage laptops even when they're turned off.   For more details on Alcatel-Lucent's OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian solution, check out the Web site.   SingTel of Singapore, Magyar Telekom of Hungary, and broadband carrier IIJ (Internet Initiative Japan Inc.) of Japan all unveiled plans to offer the device on their networks.  

Wireless Growth News

A newly released report from Informa Telecoms & Media indicates that 2007-2008 witnessed significant growth in the prepaid mobile services market.   At the end of last year, there were nearly 2.33 billion prepaid subscriptions worldwide, of which two percent of subscriptions accounted for prepaid WCDMA accesses.   According to the research, by 2013 there will be approximately 3.93 billion prepaid subscriptions, generating concomitant revenues of over $382 billion.   The consultancy predicts that from 2007-2013, growth might slow down to a global compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just over nine percent; Still, the prepaid market will account for over eighty percent of new mobile subscriptions.   It's expected that the key drivers of future growth of the prepaid mobile services market will be very-low-income customers in developing markets.     In other next-generation wireless news, Alcatel-Lucent today announced a €22 million deal with South African mobile operator Vodacom SA to upgrade its existing 3G network.   The goal is to boost the capacity and coverage of Vodacom's network so that the wireless carrier can offer its customers a wide range of advanced next-generation mobile broadband services.   The 3G wireless network will be based on Alcatel-Lucent UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and HSDPA/HSUPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access/High Speed Uplink Packet Access) technologies.    
Featured Events