Global technical center test for 3G/UMTS interoperability

<%=company1%> is planning a new technical center in the United Kingdom dedicated to the validation of the interoperability of its 3G/UMTS mobile communication solutions with the various systems available on the market. From the beginning of 2001, network infrastructure platforms will allow a large number of interoperability test combinations to be implemented with different core network, radio infrastructure and mobile terminal systems. They will also serve to validate the pertinence, functionality and compatibility of the new multimedia applications and 3G/UMTS services proposed by Alcatel and its partners.

This structure will reinforce the Alcatel development and technical support teams already operating in France, Japan, Germany, Belgium and China. This network gives operators the guarantee of optimized support for the deployment and rapid maintenance of their 3G/UMTS networks throughout the world.

The creation of this interoperability platform is part of the company's strategy to open up its 2G and 3G solutions to the international environment. The bilateral cooperation agreements that already exist with other manufacturers, and the recent creation of Evolium SAS—a joint Alcatel-Fujitsu company specialized in defining and developing mobile communication solutions—as well as Alcatel's participation as an active member in the IOT Forum, are all concrete examples of this strategy. (The Networks Vendors IOT Forum groups together the main suppliers of mobile networks with a view to developing interoperability test programs for the GPRS, EDGE and UMTS systems.)

"This technical center will give us the means to demonstrate very rapidly that the new mobile Internet applications of the mobile Internet will fit perfectly into the traffic models of our 3G/UMTS mobile network infrastructure", said Michel Rahier, president of Alcatel's Mobile Communications Activities. "It will also enable us to satisfy the needs of the many 3G or PDA mobile terminal manufacturers who have already expressed their desire to be among the first to come and test their solutions and products."

Edited by Ellen Jensen
Managing Editor, Wireless Networks Online