With the growing interest of users in applications that need more bandwidth, such as video and the Mobile Internet, operators will be forced to update their networks to meet demand and continue to boost services that guarantee more revenue. This is the scenario designed today by Alcatel-Lucent at a press conference to introduce one of the most talked about technologies at the GSMA World Mobile Conference, the LTE – Long Term Evolution, also known as 4G.
Adolfo Hernandez, Alcatel-Lucent President for EMEA argues that despite the crisis there are investment opportunities for operators who need to optimize their networks and add customers, an opportunity for the LTE solutions in which the company has been investing. «Operators have to start preparing networks for these new realities, already making investments compatible with LTE technology that guarantees continuity for future updates», defends this person.
Mary Chan, president of the 4G LTE wireless networks area, guarantees that, due to the experience in mobile and fixed networks, Alcatel-Lucente is the best prepared vendor to ensure a quick transition to LTE technology and to prove it, a solution is now available for Alcatel-Lucent infrastructures that allow the upgrade only through software.
One of the company’s bets is to try to facilitate the rapid development of 4G solutions, having created the ng connect program together with other industry partners. Derek Kuhn explained to TeK that this is an open initiative that already has several partners in the ICT industry, such as HP and Samsung, but also media and content companies. The number of companies that now aligns with the launch of the initiative may increase soon because there are another 20 companies interested in participating.
The investment by Alcatel-Lucent and the various partners materializes in the application of technologies, with the pan-European company making the most of investments already made in laboratories and application development. «What we do not want is to repeat what happened with the 3G: the networks were launched in 2004 and it was only in 2008 that the first applications that truly take advantage of their potential began to appear, with the iPhone «, justifies Mary Chan.
Among the various announcements made by Alcatel-Lucent at WMC´09 is also a partnership with Intel for the development of an interoperability program for WiMAX and tests with several operators on DVB-SH.
Fatima Hunter
* the journalist traveled to Barcelona at the invitation of Alcatel-Lucent
