TAIPEI, 21 JANUARY 2009 – French communications giant Alcatel-Lucent has said it would develop next-generation wireless ecosystem at Taiwan’s WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) centre.
Alcatel-Lucent vice-president, head of the next generation mobile access product unit, Paul Larbey, said it would foster a robust 4G (fourth generation) ecosystem in Taiwan and ensure that service providers have access to a rich variety of infrastructure, devices and applications to support next-generation wireless services.
“In 2008 the centre—established in cooperation with Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA)—achieved concrete results in the areas of WiMAX interoperability testing, device certification, and strengthening of cooperation between local companies and WiMAX service operators in various global markets,” said Larbey.
“Alcatel-Lucent opened the centre in January 2008, dedicating its efforts to WiMAX application service development and helping Taiwan’s terminal device manufacturers perform interoperability testing and development of WiMAX products,” said Larbey. “The centre, which is an integral element of Alcatel-Lucent’s global WiMAX initiatives, was established through a memorandum of understanding with the MoEA that was signed in October 2007. Since it began operations, the centre has actively catalysed cross-industry cooperation.”
Concrete results
Larbey said that concrete results included:
- Interoperability testing: Collaborated with eight Taiwan technology giants, including Asus, AWB/Accton, D-Link, Gemtek, MediaTek, QMI/Quanta, USI and Zyxel in interoperability testing of WiMAX terminal devices on 24 models, including indoor and outdoor devices.
- Device certification: Enabled the ramp-up of Alcatel-Lucent’s WiMAX Seal of Interoperability Acceptance for Commercial Services (SIACS), giving Alcatel-Lucent’s operator customers the highest possible assurance of interoperability and quality.
- Strengthening of cooperation between local manufacturers and global WiMAX service operators.
Optimistic about WiMAX
“In the past year, the centre has received WiMAX service operators, from Hong Kong, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Europe, and Australia to Taiwan and facilitated meetings with local CPE suppliers,” said Larbey. “Alcatel-Lucent is committed to continuing development of its WiMAX 802.16e (Rev-e) product line, refocusing on the dominant WiMAX market today.”
“Alcatel-Lucent is optimistic about the development of WiMAX and will continue to support the WiMAX Forum’s activities and be one of the fourteen WiMAX Forum Board Members,” said Larbey. “In the future, Alcatel-Lucent will be actively engaged in developing 4G standards, and will support WiMAX product development in order to retain technical and commercial leadership.”
