Lucent Technologies opened a Bell Labs software development centre at its Alcobendas site in Madrid, Spain. The centre will employ almost 150 engineers on the development of network operations systems and the deployment of network intelligence solutions.
During the opening ceremony, Bernardo Villazán, chief executive of Lucent in Spain, said: "For Lucent Technologies in Spain, it is a true honour to be able to collaborate in the development of the Spanish telecommunications sector with this Bell Labs software development centre. The software developed here will be integrated into our customers' networks across the world. We are looking forward to playing a key role in Lucent's future software development."
Madrid was chosen as the location for the Bell Labs software development centre because of the strength of software development both within Lucent Spain and in the Spanish education system. With the completion of the centre, Lucent is reinforcing its presence in Spain and confirming its leadership in research and development, which it has held in the almost 20 years the company has been operating there.
Bell Labs developers and computer scientists continue to pace the industry by creating new and innovative software management and services tools, that help service providers make their networks more reliable, secure and efficient, while addressing business issues such as revenue recovery, network optimization and inventory.
Lucent's software division will define technical requirements for new features as well as provide specialised support in the commercial distribution and deployment of products in Lucent's Navis® iOperations portfolio, such as the:
Navis® AnyMedia® Element Management System (EMS): This is the operating system specifically designed to manage Lucent's AnyMedia® Access System, an integrated access system that supports both voice and broadband connections. The Navis® AnyMedia® EMS software enables the network solution to be easily monitored, provisioned and controlled. It has already been installed in several international markets, including Spain and Germany.
Navis® EMF (Element Management Framework): This software provides a consistent management platform across a broad range of element types and technologies including broadband, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), IP, and wireless. Operations centres benefit from similar processes and workflows across all network elements (NEs) for management as well as centralized, simplified configuration and reconfiguration tasks. The software also provides the benefits of reduced training time, rapid deployment of new network element types, cards and features, and provides IT staff with built-in standard interfaces for ease of OSS integration.
In addition, the centre will define, develop and implement network intelligence solutions for current and future hardware platforms and software applications. Network intelligence is a key innovation in the further development of solutions such as Virtual Private Networks.
The Bell Labs software development centre in Spain, will serve as the reference laboratory for the development of these platforms and will collaborate with laboratories in the UK, the United States and Asia in the design of these and other products.
The development centre will also collaborate with software experts at Bell Labs, both in the main research facility in Murray Hill, N.J. and other locations, who have made seminal software contributions including the creation of UNIX, C and C++ computer languages. In addition, Bell Labs researchers continue to make advances in network management software for MPLS, SONET/SDH and other IP networks.
Lucent's Navis® iOperations software systems are developed on extensible, programmable platforms, open API's and advanced system architecture to provide carrier class reliability and scalability, as well as rapid and affordable integration into a service provider's preferred operations
