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27
November 2002 - Alcatel officially inaugurated its 3G
Reality Centre in Stuttgart, Germany. This facility,
which has been operational since June of this year,
is the first end-to-end, fully open 3G/UMTS mobile facility
in Germany and a new member to Alcatel's worldwide 3G
Reality Centre program. This global network of state-of-the-art
3G Reality Centres is offering its partners a unique
live and comprehensive 2.5G/GPRS and 3G/UMTS end-to-end
environment for the development, testing, validation
and promotion of advanced mobile data applications and
services.
Dr.
Walter Döring, Minister of Economic Affairs in Baden-Wurtenberg,
officiating at the launch ceremony, has personally experienced
3G mobile telephony and discovered the difference broadband
makes. A live mobile videophony call established between
Kuala Lumpur and Stuttgart has given him, in particular,
the unique opportunity to see in real time the Malaysian
person he was speaking to as well as the Petronas towers
in the background, the world's tallest buildings.
"The
Alcatel initiative is a key step to help further strengthen
the position of Baden-Wurtemberg as a main Telecommunication
and IT region," says Dr. Walter Döring, Minister of
Economic Affairs in Baden-Wurtenberg. "Broadband technologies
- whether wireline or wireless - play a key role for
the future development."
At
today's opening, visitors were also able to experience
mobile applications and services such as web browsing,
access to online information, images and video transfer
or downloading, TV streaming, interactive online game,
and even a live video call between two cars ? all while
on the move.
The
Alcatel 3G Reality Centre in Stuttgart is intended to
foster the development and testing of some of the most
exciting mobile applications and services. It enables
the mobile community in Germany and in Europe to investigate
the potential of such next generation mobile multimedia
and data solutions from GPRS to UMTS. This is a key
factor to support the successful commercial roll out
of 3G.
This
live and comprehensive environment is already attracting
partners, big and small, from the fields of application
development, content creation and handset design.
In
Germany, amongst others, PTV AG, a company providing
software, consulting and research for travel, traffic
and transportation planning in the B2B field, is testing
its NaviGuide application already available via GSM
or GPRS. With 3G/UMTS, it will become in the near future
even more powerful and colourful. To achieve that, PTV
is able to capitalise on the high quality and coverage
of the 3G/UMTS network Alcatel has set up in Stuttgart.
It allows testing of the new mobile applications in
an area of roughly 10 square kilometres. In addition
the network features highly stable voice and data connections
with data rates reaching 384 kbps and speeds of up to
120 kilometres per hour
"We
are making progress every day and achieving significant
milestones with 3G technology, applications and services,"
declared Marc Rouanne, President of Alcatel's Mobile
Networks activities. "The 3G Reality Centre in Stuttgart
is providing Alcatel and the German wireless community
with invaluable experience and learning opportunities
that are paving the way to successfully roll out 3G
services in Europe and in the World."
Heinrich
W. Kreutzer, CTO of Alcatel SEL, added, "The 3G Reality
Centre in Stuttgart shows the importance Alcatel places
in the German market. In Addition to our investments
in R&D and the Joint Venture with Fujitsu it clearly
shows that we will continue to shape the future of mobile
communications. The 3GRC will be an important part of
that development."
PTV
board spokesman Dr. Hans Hubschneider said, "It's fascinating
to experience UMTS live after such long discussions.
As a result, we are in a much better position to adapt
our mobile services to the mobile communications bandwidths
of the future. For the telecommunications industry,
we will retain our position as the innovation leader
for location-based applications and telematics services".
The
3G Reality Centre in Stuttgart is running on the latest
Alcatel Evolium? solutions including the UTRAN (UMTS
Terrestrial Radio Access Network) radio systems, the
Core network, as well as the associated Radio Network
Controller (RNC) and a dedicated Application Service
platform. The radio systems, which include the UMTS
base stations (Node B) are developed and produced by
Evolium SAS, the joint venture between Alcatel and Fujitsu,
in full compliance with UMTS 3GPP standards.
3G
Reality Centres are already operational in Kuala Lumpur,
Lisbon, Malmö , Paris, Shanghai, Taipei, Rijswijk and
now in Stuttgart. Additional 3G Reality Centres will
be operational by the end of 2002, especially in Vimercate
(Italy), and by first quarter of 2003 in Australia,
Japan and Korea, thanks to 3G UMTS pilot networks installed
by Alcatel.
SOURCE
Alcatel Press Release Back
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