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Mobile & Wireless
CTIA 2009: Seidenberg calls for wireless investment, innovation
Verizon CEO kicks off CTIA as opening keynote
by Sam Bookman
As the International CTIA Wireless show kicked off today in Las Vegas, opening keynote speaker Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications, called for more investment in global wireless infrastructure as well as continuing innovation. He also announced Verizon’s newest initiative, the Verizon Wireless LTE Innovation Center.
Seidenberg pointed out the ubiquity of wireless services as a precursor to introducing Verizon’s idea of how wireless business models will likely change with the advent of LTE and converged communications.
“Now wireless is about to enter a new era, where wireless will connect everything: not just people-to-people, but also people-to-machine and machine-to-machine. In this model, there is literally no limit on the number of connections that can be part of the mobile grid,” Seidenberg said.
It’s no secret that Verizon is going with LTE to build out its 4G network and services, but Seidenberg’s announcement that the company will establish an LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass., cements their commitment.
“We’re moving fast to get 4G,” Seidenberg said. The company partnered with Vodafone to test its infrastructure and develop standards and created an Open Development Program through which it has certified 36 new wireless devices, services and applications.
The company is partnering with Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson to launch the LTE Innovation Center later this year. The center will be “an incubator for new products in the areas of consumer electronics, telematics and machine-to-machine products for health care, security and utility metering,” Seidenberg explains.
Verizon will also join the Joint Innovation Laboratory, formed in 2008 by Vodafone, China Mobile and Softbank to speed development of mobile widgets and other applications.
“This is a tremendously fertile moment in the life of the wireless industry,” Seidenberg said.
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