Verizon Wireless Awards Alcatel-Lucent $6B Contract

Verizon Wireless will expand its network with a $6 billion agreement with Alcatel-Lucent, its primary network supplier, to supply a wide variety of network equipment, software and services.

Verizon Wireless said the contract will enable it to increase the coverage and capacity of its BroadbandAccess data network, based on CDMA2000 (code division access multizplexing) 1xEV-DO (evolution date optimized) Revision A (Rev. A) technology, and introduce new A-IMS services, including voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP), push-to-x and mobile video telephony, by deploying components of Alcatel-Lucent’s IMS (IP multimedia subsystems) solution. It said the will also accommodate its approach to multivendor interoperability of these systems. In addition, the agreement calls for Alcatel-Lucent to enhance Verizon Wireless’s existing CDMA2000 1X network.
This is the first big deal from the newly merged Alcatel-Lucent.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide infrastructure support to enable Verizon's transition to an all-IP network. Verizon Wireless’s CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A network will be expanded and enabled to support services such as VoIP with quality of service (QoS) through software upgrades. Selected IMS services will be enabled through the addition of Alcatel-Lucent’s IMS platforms with the A-IMS compliant application manager and services data manager functions.

Existing Alcatel-Lucent-supplied packet switches will be upgraded to support IP soft handoff and transcoder-free operation; the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 service router will also provide IP routing and Ethernet aggregation.

Verizon Wireless will also use a wide variety of Alcatel-Lucent’s optical and wireless transmission products, including MDR 8000 digital microwave radios. The Alcatel-Lucent optical networking products will include the optical cross-connects LambdaUnite and 1671 Service Connect and the Metropolis DMX product family, which will provide an end-to-end solution for bandwidth management and mobility traffic backhaul, Verizon said.

Alcatel-Lucent is also providing network support services, from network integration to installation, repair and maintenance services.

For more information, visit: www.verizonwireless.com