Alcatel-Lucent opens Port AmericasCupAnywhere on Second Life

As the official New Media Provider of the 32nd America’s Cup, Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced it has expanded into the virtual realm with the opening of Port AmericasCupAnywhere on Second Life®, the 3D virtual world phenomena entirely built and owned by its residents. Coinciding with the final round of sailing competition beginning today in Valencia, Spain, the announcement follows Alcatel-Lucent’s launch earlier this spring of AmericasCupAnywhere, a unique suite of new media services which enable sailing fans globally to enjoy all of the sailing action whenever and wherever they want via the Internet and mobile devices.

At Port AmericasCupAnywhere, Second Life residents can watch live animated coverage of the sailing competition and access daily archives of racing action. Providing an exciting new venue for Second Life residents to learn about the technology and tactics of America’s Cup racing, Port AmericasCupAnywhere is also hosting a virtual regatta for the Second Life sailing community, allowing residents to take the helm of an America’s Cup class boat in virtual fleet and match racing.

Linking the real and virtual worlds, Port AmericasCupAnywhere also includes demonstrations of Alcatel-Lucent’s enhanced portfolio of AmericasCupAnywhere new media services which are providing video and 3D animation and gaming coverage of the 32nd America’s Cup for sailing enthusiasts from more than 150 countries during the 2007 regattas.

The new media services, available online at www.americascupanywhere.com , include fan favourites:

America’s Cup Live Sailing (Internet)
Enabling subscribers to watch the races live and virtual, and offers live 3D animations of every race in a fully interactive web experience that includes mouse-controlled camera angles/zoom and is accessible anywhere there is an Internet connection on any computer.

America’s Cup Live Sailing (Mobile)
The award-winning America’s Cup Live Sailing for mobiles which provides fully interactive viewing of every race wherever you are from your mobile handset. Live Sailing is offered for all major GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS handset makes and models.

America’s Cup Internet TV
Providing on-demand Internet video coverage of the 32nd America’s Cup direct to PC and Mac at home, in the office or on the road including daily video news, daily feature magazines, America’s Cup Stories (background features) and other America’s Cup background material.

America’s Cup Virtual Skipper
32nd America’s Cup - The Game, Powered by Virtual Skipper 5 including America’s Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup racing featuring 32nd America’s Cup teams modelled and animated to perfection and hyper-realistic modelled ports include Valencia, Host City of the 32nd America’s Cup.

America’s Cup Podcasts
Offering daily podcast news coverage of the 32nd America’s Cup.

“Leveraging a sports event like the America’s Cup that has a history of innovation has provided Alcatel-Lucent a unique world stage to demonstrate the power of convergent applications and services to reshape the delivery of information and content,” said Marc Rouanne, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s convergence activities. “Alcatel-Lucent’s role as the Official New Media Provider has not only allowed us to showcase innovative new media services but to further build our understanding of the end-user experience and how content enablement translates into new business models and value chains. This real-world expertise ideally positions Alcatel-Lucent to help our customers take advantage of exciting new business opportunities as the industry moves toward a truly converged communications environment.”

With more than 900 convergence customers around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leading supplier of next generation network technologies and applications that enable the delivery of personalized, blended multimedia services across different networks (mobile, fixed, and enterprise) and devices. The company is committed to creating added value for their customers as they transform their networks, to deliver innovative voice and multimedia communication solutions that are as easy to use as a television or mobile phone.