Alcatel-Lucent: The Network Matters

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CHICAGO — Convergence has been a key IT buzzword for years. For
Alcatel-Lucent it means a few different things, because it applies to both IT
convergence, as well as the convergence of the two companies.

In a meeting with press and analysts at NXTcomm here, Cindy Christy, president of
Alcatel-Lucent North America, outlined how her company is transforming
networks for the blended service economy.

“Enterprise networks are becoming so complex that it opens up advanced
communication opportunities for ourselves and our customers,” Christy said.
“We’re seeing a true change where broadband will displace traditional
revenue streams.”

The challenge for Alcatel-Lucent is how to help customers generate money
in the new enterprise 2.0 environments.

Christy said that studies conducted by Alcatel-Lucent report
consumer preference is shifting from wanting a monolithic service to
wanting a blended service where the experience is integrated. That means carriers are moving away from the traditional voice-driven model.

In terms of packaging that offering, Alcatel-Lucent’s study showed that,
while consumers see bundling of triple play services as a discount vehicle,
customers are willing to pay more for blended services. Those are value-added
services where the traditional lines of voice, video and data are blurred.

“What is the communication experience that people want and how do we help
our customer make money?” Christy added.

Fundamentally it’s about user-centric services and, of course bandwidth — lots
and lots of bandwidth for voice, video and data. “It’s about being able to manage and make sure users get the experience they want while driving bandwidth efficiency,” Christy said.

The new networks being built do more than just enable connectivity; they
also give carriers the ability to deal with the challenge of declining
average revenue per user (ARPU). Christy explained that carriers can now get
into personalized advertising and generate new revenue models for users.

“There are no such things as dumb pipes anymore; they are all smart pipes, given
that blended services matter,” Christy said. “How we deliver that value to
consumers will drive better ARPU. Broadband matters because of what it
enables.”

Although networks and broadband matter, it all has to be transparent to users. From that point of view, Christy was pleased to report that the integration of the former Lucent and Alcatel is going well.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.