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Alcatel-Lucent Turns Focus to Green IT, Launches Eco-Sustainability Site

Posted by: Erik Linask | November 17, 2009 10:47 PM | 0 Comments
Energy efficiency and carbon footprint are no longer peripheral issues for today's businesses. Rather, Green IT has become a vital consideration when making communications equipment purchasing decisions.  With the increased attention being placed on green IT and eco-sustainable solutions, driven by not only the rising cost of energy, but growing corporate environmental awareness as well, it has become imperative for telecom equipment vendors to devote resources to developing products and solutions that fit into their customers' green initiatives.
 
Alcatel-Lucent is developing its end-to-end network equipment with an eye towards "greenness," helping its customers and their end users reduce the environmental impact of the communications solutions and products they use each day. Taking a holistic approach to eco-sustainable networks, Alcatel-Lucent is able to help its customers leverage its intelligent network equipment to drive energy efficiency throughout their end-to-end networks.
 
For instance, it has reduced carbon emissions from its CDMA and GSM base stations by 40 and 50 percent, respectively. It also has cut emissions from its DSL access lines by 20 percent. These figures represent only a slice of the green development at Alcatel-Lucent in its global research facilities, where it is focusing current research on thermal management of components, power management of equipment, and topographical management of networks, among other eco-sustainability factors.
 
The goal is to curb carbon emissions of communications equipment, which is predicted to double to 4 percent of the total global emissions by 2020, given current technology and industry growth. 
 
Product-specific enhancements are one way to achieve increased energy efficiency, but Alcatel-Lucent believes that wider reaching programs and initiatives can have a profound impact on global carbon emissions, which is why it is working to drive smart technology as a lifestyle. Initiatives like smart grids, smart metering, smart homes, and smart highways, for instance - all of which have become part of the common vernacular in the communications industry - will all help create a more eco-sustainable and more efficient global landscape.
 
To supports its global eco-sustainability campaign, Alcatel-Lucent has recently launched its new Eco-sustainability Web site, which details its corporate mission to promote environmentally aware communications technology across the globe. 
 
In addition to a dedicated Eco-news page, detailing its recent work and announcement around green IT, the site includes sections dedicated to its three main areas of development:
 
  • Smart ICT: Highlights a focus on green communications technologies, such as video conferencing, location-based services, and vertical specific solutions, as well as smart grid, smart home, smart highway, and smart metering solutions.
  • Eco-innovation: Focuses on the ongoing R&D efforts at Alcatel-Lucent's research facilities.
  • Eco-sustainable Networks: Details Alcatel-Lucent's intelligent, environmentally efficient end-to-end network equipment and solutions, from alternative energy sources through the network architecture to the end user premises.
Alcatel-Lucent believes its development efforts can have a significant impact on the environmental impact of communications technology, but it further believes the same fundamentals that are being applied by the communications industry can be applied to other market segments as well, driving down the 98 percent of carbon emissions from non-communications technologies.
 
For more, visit Alcatel-Lucent's Eco-sustainability site.

Competition vs. Collaboration: Strategies for New Revenue Generation

Posted by: Erik Linask | November 16, 2009 11:34 PM | 0 Comments
The question of which approach - competition or collaboration - is best in a competitive business landscape is hardly new. The natural instinct is to lean towards competition. After all, collaborating with other industry players can expose your business. However, collaboration breeds innovation, especially in the communications space, where most technologies are based on accepted standards, so there is little risk to intellectual property - your competition is leveraging the same technology.
 
Gary Iosbaker, Principal Technologist in the Office of the CTO for Communications and Media Solutions at Hewlett-Packard, recently discussed this issue in his article in Alcatel-Lucent's online magazine Enriching Communications, noting that HP prides itself on its extensive industry partnerships. In fact, he claims that, because of the standards-based technologies driving the communications market, and the rapid rate of evolution today, it is imperative that businesses be willing to share their information and experiences for the benefit of the industry.
 
Because today's communications experience depends on a broad range of vendors - devices, clients, access, transport, support systems, and more - the only way to truly succeed and deliver a quality experience to the end user is to work through partnerships, "rather than wasting limited resources chasing the same goals," as Iosbaker says.
 
It's the old strength in numbers theory: "By pooling the rich complementary capabilities of a broad range of players, the collective expertise and experience benefits everyone," writes Iosbaker.
 
The idea is that working in tandem with other industry experts facilitates more rapid development of products that will be more widely available, more reliable, and more cost effective to develop. In addition, market acceptance is increased due to the collaborative nature of the product(s) - there is less hesitation resulting from the perception of single-vendor bias.
 
The same ideal of bringing more innovative revenue-generating products to market more quickly drives the Alcatel-Lucent initiated ng Connect program, which is designed to foster the very kind of collaboration between vendors Iosbaker promotes. In fact, according to Iosbaker, HP didn't hesitate to become an ng Connect member because, quite simply, it made good business sense.
 
"It's about truly transformational and innovative companies that are willing to collaborate and understand how they are going to use broadband technologies in a way that betters the user experience," said Derek Kuhn, Vice President of Emerging Technology and Media at Alcatel-Lucent, of ng Connect. 
 
Ultimately, with the growth of broadband communications and the pace of evolution of communications technology, it is impossible for any single vendor to keep pace alone - they simply lack the resources. Si, the logical alternative is to rely on mutually beneficial partnerships that help achieve existing goals, but are also likely to unveil new opportunities as well.

 
For more on how HP leverages its partnerships to drive its business success, read Iosbaker's article, along with several others in an entire issue of Enriching Communications dedicated to how collaboration is driving innovation in the communications market, enabling new, revenue-generating products to be introduced more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Top 10 Ways to 'Free Your Network' and Successfully Work with Third Parties

Posted by: Erin Harrison | October 6, 2009 2:23 PM | 0 Comments
Telco interest in working with third-party service providers and developers is growing fast, and with good reason.
 
In the 15 years since the Internet became a global phenomenon, there has been an intense growth in the number of services that customers are able to access through their telecommunications connection, most of which have been created and supplied by third parties.
 
Network providers basically today have two choices - a) to be providers of only a small number of mostly commoditized services, b) or to work with third parties to add value to the customer's overall experience of using Internet and Web services.
 
The shift to third-party services is accelerating as more software platforms are making it easier build and upload new ideas to the Web's expanding community of users. Look no further than Facebook to realize the wide range of ways in which open platforms are being used to leverage businesses and expose them to greater opportunities.
 
A recent Heavy Reading whitepaper outlined the likely dimensions or characteristics these third-party services include: increasingly image and video-centric; highly personalized and customizable; focused on collaborative and social activities; and are available on a much wider range of devices, including non-traditional media such as wearable devices.
 
In a 2007 survey with network operators, they were asked to choose three of the most important factors to the future success of today's mainstream telcos. More than half said "better partnering and collaboration with third-party service providers," most of whom are now trying to deepen relationships with third-party Internet and Web-based service providers and developers, primarily by giving those third parties better access to telco resources, capabilities, assets and databases that could be of value to those parties.
 
Application enablement is a network approach that combines the capabilities of network operators with the speed and innovation of the Web. Quality, security and reliability are key areas that network providers must supply. To create new value, network capabilities must be addressed in a managed and controlled way, facilitating new business models and improving return on investment.
 
According to the whitepaper commissioned by Alcatel-Lucent, to "free the network," operators need to abide by 10 core principles as they make strides in this area:
 
1. Establish a set of KPIs that set benchmarks for improving performance in this area.
2. Take a pragmatic initial approach to working with third parties, aiming to show through simple early-to-market solutions how the new relationship could work and demonstrating that superior value really can be created.
3. At the same time, be ready to have a variety of business and commercial solutions available over time.
4. Understand which third parties are most likely to respond positively to an invitation to work with you, probably through detailed market research.
5. Use software platforms that are suitable or adaptable for use by particular kinds of developers.
6. Sell the ability to connect third parties with end users wherever they are--through both partnerships and technology. This means resolving issues on behalf of third parties such as the customer's location, type of access network, device and so on.
7. Break down internal walls and barriers between the key stakeholders, which will include CIO, CTO, OSS/BSS, network operations, CRM, product management and marketing.
8. Deploy policy and QoS tools that are designed from the start to help enrich relationships with third parties, rather than simply as tools to control the behavior of applications or the telco's own services.
9. Focus on dismantling subscriber data silos and getting consensus on rules for using that data.
10. Emphasize the ability to identify and authenticate individuals in a secure environment, as well as the ability to bill them. Network providers - especially mobile network providers - are in a strong position to do this, and it is a capability that will be valued by third parties.
 
For more on application enablement and working successfully with third parties, visit Alcatel-Lucent's Next Generation Communications community on TMCnet.

How the Recession is Impacting Consumer Spending on Network-based Services

Posted by: Erik Linask | September 28, 2009 8:43 AM | 0 Comments
There is no question the economic downturn has had a significant impact on spending in both business and consumer markets. In the business market, the results have been well documented, with a marked decrease in spending, including staff cuts as well as an increased need to justify any new investments. For the communications market, this has created an opportunity to feature the cost saving features of IP-based technologies, in addition to their productivity enhancing capabilities.
 
Because its service provider customers are critically impacted by the needs and trends of consumers, Alcatel-Lucent sought to determine how the recession has impacted consumer spending, knowing that overall confidence has been at an all-time low for many of them and that spending patterns can change drastically with the economy. 
 
The good news, based on Alcatel-Lucent's research, is that, while two-thirds of consumers are cutting their overall spending, their first cutbacks are not related to their network services. In fact, only one of the top 11 cutbacks is communications related - downloading online pay per view movies is the fifth most frequently cited cutback. The remainder of the top 11 includes other ancillary entertainment and activities, like going to bars (1), concerts (2), sporting events (4), movies (6), and restaurants (7). Renting movies from physical shops came in third. Travel, charitable contributions, health club memberships, and non-essential shopping rounded out the top 11.
 
The lower half of the response table included many network and communications services, but their frequency was significantly lower than the top cost cutting measures. In fact, the three of the four least likely services to be cut include the basic communications services: broadband, landline phone, and cellular service (education also fell among these three at the bottom of the list).
 
What it means is there is an ongoing opportunity for network operators, whose services are viewed as a much more fundamental part of everyday life than other leisure activities. Indeed, broadband service can be considered recession-proof.
 
Interestingly, paid VoIP has a much higher likelihood of being cut, despite the overwhelming sentiment that broadband Internet is a must-have service. Clearly, providers have a significant opportunity here in developing the PSTN replacement market. But, this is also a reflection of comfort - consumers are used to their reliable traditional phone service and, in a challenging economy, tend to favor tried and tested products to new technologies.
 
On the other hand, free and low-cost services still present an opportunity - though they also present a challenge in subsidizing those services with other revenue streams, including advertising. Even with an improvement in economic conditions, Alcatel-Lucent says 13 percent of respondents still plan on making cuts, while 20 percent are likely to increase spending, leaving the majority at a level spend.
 
What does this mean for providers? Certainly, they will have to adapt their business strategies to account for consumer behavior. More than likely, they will see an increase in the use of free services, like IP-based voice and video services, an increase in messaging (email and IM) as opposed to traditional telephony, a rising interest in bundled services, and a greater acceptance of advertisement-driven services.
 
The latter presents a real opportunity for operators as they look to offset a reduction in the use of fee-based services. The creation of more bundled offerings also is an opportunity, because it creates stickiness and helps reduce churn, which is at least as important as singing new subscribers - and builds a relationship operators can leverage as the introduce new services. And of course, their ability to enhance the overall experience for the end user will only help increase subscriber loyalty.
 
For more on Alcatel-Lucent's research, read the full report, including tables and charts that show exactly how the consumer market is expected to behave as a result of the recession.
 

Green IT - Increase Eco-Sustainability in a Converged Communications Environment

Posted by: Erik Linask | September 6, 2009 11:48 AM | 0 Comments
The most frequently heard phrase heard in the business environment today might be, "Do more with less." It refers to all aspects of the enterprise environment, from staffing to budgets to technology, which, of course are intimately connected to each other and to businesses' bottom lines.
 
One way for businesses - and IT departments, in particular - to achieve cost savings is through eco-sustainability projects, or looking to "Green IT" to help decrease their capital and operational expenses while increasing their communications capabilities. A second element of such programs is to reduce environmental and health impact of technology. What it amounts to is that "Green IT" is no longer an optional part of enterprise business plans, but a requisite part of developing a lean, agile, and sustainable operation. 
 
As such, many businesses are looking for technology vendors whose solutions promote "greenness" while providing the IT capabilities businesses need to efficiently deliver products and services. This includes investing in products that are environmentally safe, energy efficient, have smaller physical footprints, and are easily recyclable.
 
Recent research suggests that more than half of enterprise decision makers consider eco-friendliness why choosing technology vendors, and a third already consider Green IT a crucial part of their selection process. Furthermore, four out of five executives say Green technology is becoming more important to their businesses.
 
The simple fact is that as more servers are deployed to handle more bandwidth intensive applications, and as enterprise networks become generally more complex, they generate an increased amount of heat. After all, each element in an IP infrastructure, from servers to phones, are drawing power and generating heat 24/7. This requires cooling systems to function 24/7 as well, and obviously, the more heat is dissipated from network hardware, the more cooling is required, and the more costly simply powering the network becomes.
 
There are several ways enterprises can reduce their overall heat dissipation, and of course, cooling and backup power requirements. After all, the lower the power requirements and heat dissipation, the lower the cooling and backup requirements become, reducing both energy and equipment expenses.
 
Certainly PoE is one way to reduce costs is to deploy PoE (Power over Ethernet) hardware where possible. Not only does this reduce the heat dissipated at the switch, it also reduces the main and backup power requirements to a minimal number of sources - the PoE switch(es).
 
Virtualization is another popular strategy for conserving energy while reducing CAPEX. Properly sized servers can run multiple operating systems and the applications they power, reducing physical footprint, power requirements, and heat (read: cost savings).
 
These and other means of creating a more energy efficient IT environment tie into a growing need among enterprises to become more dynamic, where the all business operations - hardware, software, people, processes - are all connected by a single converged architecture to drive efficiency and performance across the enterprise. 
 
By deploying the latest Green strategies, including energy-efficient hardware, but also leveraging technology to hold virtual meetings and reduce paper documents - all of which also increase efficiency in a collaborative environment - the business world, and the telecom space, in particular, has the ability to promote eco-friendliness globally.
 
Alcatel-Lucent supports eco-sustainability initiatives through its wide range of environmentally friendly products and solutions, which are also designed to meet the growing needs to enterprises to provide faster, more reliable access to applications and services to its employees, whether in one physical location, at many sites, or in mobile environments.
 
To read more about eco-sustainability in the enterprise IT environment, read Alcatel-Lucent's white paper, Reducing Power Consumption: Improving the heat and power efficiency of switching and telephony equipment.

Best practices for prioritizing next generation services that customers are willing to pay a premium for

Posted by: Erik Linask | August 31, 2009 2:38 AM | 0 Comments
When it comes to delivering services to subscribers, providers obviously must have an infrastructure in place to be able to physically bring their offerings to their customers - or partnerships that will enable that delivery. But, they must also have an understanding of what services their subscribers are interested in and, importantly, what they are willing to pay for.
 
The new communications market is no longer going to be defined by its networks; rather, successful providers will be able to quickly and efficiently bring new and innovative services and applications to market. Alcatel-Lucent founded the ng Connect program precisely with that objective: to drive innovation through collaboration between a wide range of vendors - vendors that have a vested interest in each others' activities, but that previously have not have a community through which to actively engage one another, including application developers, hardware vendors, service providers, and others.
 
The simple fact is that no single company has the resources or the knowledge to effectively understand which on which services they should focus their efforts for maximum uptake and exposure, let alone develop them for the widest possible audience.
 
First and foremost, the ng Connect program helps facilitate the research required to determine user demand for certain services, including how much they are willing to pay, the potential market adoption, and the impact of network evolution, such as the migration to 4G wireless networks. Without this knowledge, developers are largely heading into projects blindly, without fully understand what they need to develop and for whom, making their projects something of a hit or miss proposition.
 
Once projects have been identified, ng Connect members have access to streamlined proof of concept development capabilities through shared resources within the community, shortening development time and simplifying interoperability work, including access to end-to-end service provider networks for testing, assessment, and validation with access protocols, devices, billing systems, and other critical service delivery elements. The community also provides an avenue for targeted testing among customers, media, and other groups.
 
"The ng Connect system helps us to get in touch with major players in the business, like handset manufacturers and mobile network operators, as well as those who build the actual operating systems," says Michael Schade, CEO, FISH. "That gives us early access so we can design our software to work effectively at an early stage."
 
Of course, no service can be successful without effective marketing, which is provided through the nature of the community itself. A singular, wide-reaching collective voice of the ng Connect community helps drive services to market, quickly increasing exposure to a large target customer base.
 
Any company that plans on being competitive in the next generation market should consider membership in ng Connect, effectively the link between innovation and delivery to market of profitable consumer and business services.
 
"It's about truly transformational and innovative companies that are willing to collaborate and understand how they are going to use broadband technologies in a way that betters the user experience," said Derek Kuhn, Vice President of Emerging Technology and Media at Alcatel-Lucent. 
 
For more on how ng Connect can help you identify the services your customers are looking for, and quickly develop them and bring them to market, read this article from the Next Generation Communications community.
 

Building a Dynamic Enterprise and Increasing Operational Sustainability Through Green IT

Posted by: Erik Linask | August 2, 2009 10:05 PM | 0 Comments
Every business is looking for more efficient ways to conduct business, and is seeking the greatest opportunities for doing so without sacrificing their ability to operate in a competitive environment. That is why the communications industry has been at the heart of cost savings initiatives even before the current economic recession hit. Businesses worldwide are looking to leverage the latest communications technologies to help drive down operational costs. 
 
To the benefit of the communications market, that has led to a level of growth that sets it apart from most industries, because, in order to gain the benefits of VoIP, unified communications, telepresence, mobility, and other capabilities made possible in a next generation communications environment, they have to invest, at least minimally, in their infrastructures.
 
But even then, there are ways for enterprises to seek out differentiated alternatives that add even more to their cost saving initiatives - specifically, Green IT. Investing in energy efficient hardware to replace legacy products not only brings the features and flexibility of IP-based communications, but further helps cut recurring costs through improved efficiency, reducing power and cooling requirements. Furthermore, Green technology helps support environmental awareness programs globally.
 
This has resulted in enterprises seeking out suppliers who have incorporated energy efficiency and environmental impact into their product design. It also plays neatly into the growing movement towards becoming a more dynamic enterprise, where the infrastructure, its users, resources, and processes are all converging to improve operational efficiencies. To realize the transformation to a more dynamic, more operationally efficient enterprise, businesses must reflect those same values in their infrastructures, which support their entire operations.
 
Indeed, studies suggest that more than 50 percent of businesses consider environmental factors when making investment decisions, and almost 8 out of 10 executives claim the role of Green IT is increasing in their organizations.
 
As business continue to migrate to IP infrastructures, consideration for power and cooling requirements becomes increasingly important, since IP phones and other infrastructure components - like Ethernet switches, PoE switches, and servers - are "on" day and night, drawing power, emitting heat, and increasing cooling requirements.
 
Certainly, these hardware components are required for an enterprise to function, but all of these infrastructure components can be selected to optimize power and cooling in the enterprise. For instance, using PoE capable devices helps eliminate additional backup power sources, which themselves draw power and emit heat. Appropriately sizing server hardware and adopting virtualization technologies also helps reduce physical infrastructure requirements, with multiple systems running on the same hardware, again reducing power and heat.
 
So, as enterprises consider their communications technology investments, it is clear that Green IT and eco-sustainability are becoming increasingly vital, not only for environmental awareness, but for lowering operational costs, as well as additional capital expenses related to power and cooling resources.
 
To help enterprises achieve their Green IT goals, Alcatel-Lucent builds and develops its communications equipment in support of and in compliance with a number of environmental initiatives, including RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances), WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), and electrical emissions, as well as the IEEE's goals towards shaping a more energy efficient communications environment.
 
In fact, Alcatel-Lucent, using an energy efficiency calculator developed in conjunction with Frost & Sullivan, undertook a comparison between its enterprise switching and telephony equipment and those of its competitors. The result: for an enterprise network with 6,000 1Gb access ports and 3,000 IP phones in a 10Gb backbone configuration, Alcatel-Lucent equipment can save businesses more and 1,000 megawatt hours and more than $150,000 over a five-year period.
 
The message is simple, as enterprises look to become more dynamic in their overall operational capabilities, they must first invest in infrastructure that embodies those same values. Green IT is become an important differentiating feature among technology vendors, and enterprises looking to become more flexible and environmentally aware are looking for that differentiator.

Broadband Dependency Creates Bright Future for Multi-Solution Vendors

Posted by: Erik Linask | June 29, 2009 10:00 PM | 0 Comments

There's no question as to the impact of the economic recession on the economy -- one needs only to look casually at the layoffs that have been announced on the past year across nearly all business segments. 

The communications industry, though not immune, has by all accounts fared better than many others, largely because communications remains the backbone of all business, and the latest IP Communications technologies offer businesses an opportunity to revamp their systems to create more effective working environments -- just look at the turnout at ITEXPO East in Miami earlier this year. 

For service providers, despite an increasingly competitive environment, and despite facing similar challenges in ensuring they are well positioned to meet growing subscriber demands, the situation is also less bleak than some might have expected. It's clear that the business market will continue to demand high-speed broadband connectivity, both mobile and fixed, but recent research from Alcatel-Lucent's Market Advantage Program (MAP), also suggests that residential subscribers have no intention of giving up their broadband services, despite cutting spending in other non-essential areas. 

This clearly supports the theory that broadband connectivity has gone from a "nice-to-have" service to a "must-have." It's a combination of fallout from the business world, where broadband is a fundamental component of the communications infrastructure, and the proliferation of new means of communication -- like Facebook, Twitter, and basic email and IM -- which are dependent on connectivity. It is also reflective of the growth of the Web as an information source (many newspapers have already moved to online models) and business tool (IP Communications affords ample opportunity to conduct regular business activities from the home and in transit), and entertainment portal (if you missed the season finale of Grey's Anatomy, it is available online in both standard and high definition formats). 

More specifically, 84 percent of survey respondents agree that broadband is an essential service, making it a less likely target for cost cutting efforts. Perhaps more importantly, subscribers indicate a propensity for upgrading their broadband services -- or, subscribing to a service, for those currently without it. 

"This clearly shows that people across the world rely on broadband services as a central part of their social and economic lives," said Tim Krause, Chief Marketing Officer for Alcatel-Lucent.  "As the world looks at ways to address the twin challenges of economic growth and climate change, our research shows that broadband and the digital economy must absolutely be at the top of decision making agendas."   

Importantly, despite differing views on the impact of the economy on households between developed and developing markets -- respondents in developing markets tended to be much more optimistic about the outlook for the coming year -- the attitudes regarding the need for broadband service superseded their economic outlooks. 

Obviously, this bodes well for service providers, especially those that have strategically positioned themselves to evolve their networks and service offerings by leveraging next generation communications technologies. It portends an equally bright future for network equipment vendors that provide that technology, especially those that cut across multiple network technologies, like Alcatel-Lucent, which isn't dependent on the widespread success of a single solution type for its growth. 

Take, for instance, the continuing debate between LTE and WiMAX, with most vendors having made a choice between the two. Alcatel-Lucent believes the market potential to be strong for both, and continues to develop both solutions. This naturally gives is an advantage over many vendors, as it can make plays for twice the contracts of single solution vendors. 

Alcatel-Lucent's continued development extends much further than simply the latest wireless technologies, to wireline solutions and clear migration paths from 2G/3G to next generation wireless, allowing service providers to migrate their networks at their own pace, without compromising their ability to deliver reliable service to their subscribers. 

Naturally, much of the new subscriber growth providers will enjoy will come from leveraging new technologies to gain access to previously underserved or unreachable rural regions, a key consideration of Alcatel-Lucent's continued push to deliver multiple network solutions.  

In the U.S., it also rolled out its "Broadband for All" program, which provides advisory services to telecoms, governments, and developers, as they seek to benefit from the American Recover and Reinivestment Act (ARRA) put in place earlier this year. The Act has set aside more than $7 billion to support broadband growth into underserved areas of the country. 

The program not only performs in an advisory capacity, but it also serves to highlight the large broadband portfolio that has already been deployed by services providers across the globe to deliver services to both rural and urban areas.  

"The stimulus bill offers a unique opportunity for service providers, municipalities and developers to upgrade their networks for decades to come with technology that supports broadband access and services," explained Rich Wonders, vice president of Strategic Marketing for Alcatel-Lucent's Americas region. 

So, while some providers are still searching for their future strategies, and while vendors are looking to sway those providers in one direction or another, Alcatel-Lucent doesn't care. More accurately, Alcatel-Lucent cares more, understanding that each situation is unique, providing a solution set that will allow any service provider to evolve their networks for future growth, regardless of their technology strategy.

Alcatel-Lucent Continues Fixed Broadband Growth

Posted by: Erik Linask | June 9, 2009 10:22 PM | 0 Comments
Traditional service providers are hard pressed to win new customers, given the economy and a diminishing number of "unconnected" households (i.e., those without broadband access), combined with a saturated market, at least in terms of readily accessible areas. There is certainly plenty of room for growth when it comes to emerging access technologies, particularly next generation wireless networks like LTE and WiMAX, but in developed countries, in particular, the fixed line markets make growth a challenge.
 

Likewise, equipment vendors are equally hard pressed to achieve sustained growth, but it is possible, as evidenced by Alcatel-Lucent's results from Q1 2009, when it shipped more than five million DSL lines, accounting to more than one-third of the market, according to Dell'Oro Group. That growth brings Alcatel-Lucent's DSL line shipment total to more than 190 million, which also keeps it atop the global leaderboard, despite a slightly smaller growth figure than in the previous quarter. 

 

Notable statistics from Dell'Oro on Alcatel-Lucent's DSL market share include:

 
  • The top spot in the North American DSL market, with nearly a 60 percent share, three times its closest competitor;
  • 49 percent of the EMEA DSL market, more than doubling its closest rival;
  • It owns more than 63 percent of the DSL market in the rest of the world, again, more than three times its closest competitor;
  • 50.3 percent of the global VDSL market, up nearly 15 percent in Q1, amounting to more that four times its closed competitor.
 

Not only is its growth and overall market share competitively notable, since it comes at the expense of Alcatel-Lucent's competition, but at a time when service providers are more cautious than ever with their investments, retaining the top position provides it increased leverage when the economy finally revives. Having now also expanded its VDSL market share -- VDSL, of course, is the higher speed successor to DSL -- Alcatel-Lucent is making it increasingly difficult for competitors to close in on its market share lead, as the company has clearly stated its intention to continue to drive broadband adoption via multiple access technologies, including optical networking, where it has also seen growth -- it has expanded its GPON customer base, by 30 percent in year-over-year analysis.

 

The company says it now has more than 95 FTTH deployments under way, 80 of which are GPON-based. Its fiber customer base includes notable names like Verizon, France Telecom, Portugal Telecom, and Hong Kong Broadband Network, speaking to its ability to serve some of the most demanding providers in the world.

 

"Our sustained leadership in fixed broadband access builds, to a great extent, on our continuous innovations," says Dave Geary, President of Alcatel-Lucent's Wireline Networks activities.

 

In addition to a broad fixed line portfolio, that commitment to innovation also extends to the wireless market, notably the 4G space, where it has positioned itself well, with a product portfolio that includes both WiMAX and LTE, which necessarily increases its market opportunity, unlike those competitors who have chosen one wireless technology.

 

Its ability to provide not only fixed line solutions, but also a range of wireless alternatives, offers Alcatel-Lucent an opportunity in both developed and emerging markets, but also means it can compete for nearly any broadband contract. That, in and of itself, positions the company well as the ongoing recession (hopefully) heads into its last stretch.

 

Next Generation Self-Sustainable Wireless Networking

Posted by: Erik Linask | June 2, 2009 10:48 PM | 0 Comments
Despite the incredible innovation in the communications space, both wireline and wireless, and the rapid growth of broadband access in areas that have, until recently, been without that luxury, there are still large populations across the globe that have limited or no access. 
 

Alcatel-Lucent, with its Bell Labs facilities, however, is looking to respond to the need for broadband access in remote and otherwise inaccessible areas.  Specifically, the company has launched what it says is the first alternative energy laboratory and pilot site in the world targeting the telecom industry in its Bell Labs site in Villarceaux, France, part of it Alternative Energy program.

 

Through this program, Alcatel-Lucent hopes to drive broadband access into rural areas, even those that fall outside commercial power grids, by developing energy-autonomous and efficient -- green -- wireless networking technologies that will help network operators overcome obstacles to providing broadband access.

 

The facility includes a wireless base station, powered by a hybrid system comprising solar panes and wind turbines -- as such it creates a power source independent of the power grid.  Researchers are also studying the potential use of other alternative energy sources, including fuel cells and bio-fuels.

ALU-alternative-energy-2.JPG 

"The site offers Alcatel-Lucent and its customers and its industrial, institutional, and academic partners, the ability to analyze, test and validate the solutions proposed by the dynamic, but fragmented, alternative energy sector," said Rich Garafola, director of Sustainable Power solutions at Alcatel-Lucent.  "It is also a center for people within the company and outside to discuss and try out new ideas to bring the world of telecoms and that of alternative energy closer together."

 

The company's Alternative Energy program not only addresses the need for exploring non-traditional power sources, both to conserve costs and support the growing green movement that is overtaking the telecom space, it also seeks to allow network operators to extend their reach to subscriber bases that have previously been outside their grasp.

 

In fact, Alcatel-Lucent says more than one billion people currently reside in areas not served by power grids -- meaning they not only lack broadband access, but also seemingly simple amenities like phone service, which severely limits their social and economic growth potential.  Through its Alternative Energy program, Alcatel-Lucent -- which has already deployed more than 300 alternative energy powered radio sites -- hopes to bring its solutions to the mass market, with a goal of deploying more than 100,000 such wireless base stations by 2012.

 

This goal fits in well with its participation in the Mobile 2012 Virtual Tradeshow, which is set to deliver an outlook on the evolution of the wireless market through 2012 and beyond.  Part of this virtual event, taking place June 11, 2009, from  9:00am-5:00pm ET, will focus on how operators can reach previously unreachable customers using the latest mobile technologies, while increasing their network efficiency without an exorbitant increase in footprint or operating cost.

 

In addition to Alcatel-Lucent's alternative energy solutions, attendees will have an opportunity to engage the company to learn about it entire outlook on the future of wireless communications, including how they can leverage the company's technology to evolve their service delivery capabilities to meet the growing demands of subscribers. 

 

To learn how Alcatel-Lucent can help operators deliver on their commitments to their subscribers, register now.  Not only is Alcatel-Lucent prepared to help operators extend their reach into underserved areas, but it also is driving the growth of the next generation of wireless networking with its LTE technologies, designed to enable the efficient delivery of all the latest wireless services well into the future.  

Continue reading Next Generation Self-Sustainable Wireless Networking.
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