Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs has launched a consulting division to help organisations understand new network technologies and how they can adopt them in preparation for the industry’s “transformational shift”.
The Bell Labs Consulting group will provide advice to IT and communications companies regarding the building, deployment and operation of new networks that will emerge from technologies such as SDN and NFV, as well as recommendations for tapping new revenue models and vertical industries.
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The “discreet” unit will be able to provide customers with technical insight and expertise across the fields of SDN, NFV, cloud, wireless, fixed access, optical networking and IP routing, Alcatel-Lucent said.
The consulting division will focus on five key areas: the emergence of the new enterprise; the rise of the machine; the confluence of networks; the move to the edge cloud and the era of cognitive operations.
Marcus Weldon, President of Bell Labs, said: “Our industry is undergoing a transformational shift as we enter a new era, driven by the digitisation and connection of everything and everyone, and build converged networks that capable of handling the diverse and dynamic demand patterns.
“For customers this transformation from a physical to a complete digital delivery infrastructure for the future can be a minefield to navigate, in terms of understanding the right economic models, the key technologies, how they work together to create new solution capabilities, and the relative priority they should have in order to optimise the TCO and drive growth and profitability.
Alcatel-Lucent claimed the technology industry would need to completely re-think its approach to building and operating networks before 2020, predicting a 31x growth in demand for content on mobile devices and a nine-fold growth in video traffic in metro areas by the end of the decade.
Weldon said: “Our intent is to provide the decision framework, and the set of key innovations and sequencing of adoption that will help ensure they not only survive but prosper well into in the future.”
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