Following the opening of Alcatel's first IPTV and Triple-Play Center of Competence last year, the newly merged Alcatel-Lucent will be launching a new, state-of-the-art Asia Internet Protocol (IP) Transformation Center (IPTC) in Singapore, to bolster its network of IPTCs worldwide. The Centre will be the center of its kind and scale in Asia-Pacific, and aims to develop, integrate and test end-to-end IP networking solutions to help operators and enterprises.
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Mr Vince Pizzica, CTO of Alcatel-Lucent Asia-Pacific, explained that the Asia IPTC will reduce costs and risks for service providers, allowing them to take advantage of the new facilities to develop better quality IP products
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The Asia IPTC represents an investment of approximately S$40 million over the next three years, with support from the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore, and is expected to host about 50 technologies and employ 80 professionals. The new center will be co-located with the IPTV Competency Center, and aims to complement the existing IPTCs and Network Integration Centers located in Antwerp, Belgium; Lisle, Illinois and Plano, Texas. These centers, which share knowledge, resources and best practices, help service providers execute their IP Transformation projects.
The launch was rolled out in response to the growing competition faced by developers, telcos and industry players in the region, with increasing demand to develop more sophisticated services, provide more value and accommodate new business models.
"Shortening the IP transformation period and ensuring seamless customer network migration are the prime objectives of our global IP Transformation Centers and Network Integration Centers," said Frederic Rose, President of Alcatel-Lucent Asia-Pacific. Through the Asia IPTC, Alcatel-Lucent will be able to lower barriers to entry and reduce the substantial investments typically required for such facilities.
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Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of IDA, said that Asia IPTC will provide the industry with collaboration opportunities for both MNCs and local infocomm enterprises
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Speaking at the Asia IPTC soft launch on 2 April 2007, Mr Ko Kheng Hwa, Managing Director of the EDB, noted that the new Centre will bring together Alcatel-Lucent's expertise and resources to support the development, integration and testing of communications networks and solutions for regional and global markets. This is in line with the Government's objective to further promote Singapore as the ideal hub for a broad spectrum of ICM innovation activities, and have committed a budget of S$13 billion over the next 5 years to support R&D efforts.
Endorsing the Centre's location in Singapore, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said, "The Centre will contribute to the infocomm ecosystem in Singapore and potentially seed the development of local independent software vendors and attract product development and system integration from Alcatel-Lucent's partners. The presence of the Center will help develop a pool of highly-skilled network professionals."
One of the inaugural initiatives the Asia IPTC will be working on is the roll out of critical infrastructure that will enable sophisticated Internet Protocol (IP) communications services for Companhia de Telecommunicações de Macau S.A.R.L. (CTM)'s business and consumer customers to realize the operator's "Digital Macau" vision. Announced last November, "Digital Macau" delivers a new generation of communications services that will keep pace with and support the Macau Special Administrative Region's sustained growth. Next-generation network services will be provided in four key areas: mobile, broadband, high-speed data services and applications.
In addition, Alcatel-Lucent is already working on several major IP transformation, triple play and IPTV projects in the region, including SingTel's IPTV trials which were conducted in October 2006.
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