Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled a host of capabilities to help service providers open their networks to application developers and content providers to speed the creation of Web 2.0 services for consumers and enterprises.
The company said that the new capabilities include Application Exposure Suite, open API Service, and a set of transformation services. The capabilities provide access to service information, such as the location of subscribers, service preferences and billing relationships, enabling developers to create mash up applications that combine the functionality of service provider networks with web-based capabilities.
According to Alcatel-Lucent, the Application Exposure Suite allows service providers to make their assets in their networks available to application and content providers. Service providers can allow developers to add functionalities such as billing, location or connection optimisation, to their applications. The suite also provides service providers with services such as access to network assets, subscriber privacy, protecting the network and the visibility into the performance of applications on their network.
Alcatel-Lucent said that the Open API Service brings developers and service providers together to support the creation and testing of new services, providing access to network capabilities through a web portal. It allows developers to leverage enablers from multiple carriers in one place and helps developers to enter into one contractual agreement and get access to application programming interfaces (APIs) along with technical support and a test environment.
In addition, the company is offering a portfolio of services in a multivendor environment, including systems integration and management of networks and service-layer operations to support the transformation of service providers to open business models.
Kenneth Frank, president of solutions and marketing at Alcatel-Lucent, said:We are helping service providers find new ways to fully exploit their resources, including location, presence, preferences, address book, quality of service and payment, by exposing such capabilities in a managed and controlled way to a growing community of application developers to create a whole new category of advanced Web 2.0 and multimedia services.
