France Télécom–Orange and Alcatel-Lucent pool resources and R&D to boost open innovation in Brittany and the Loire region

Rennes, The joint offering, called Arc Bretagne Atlantique, aims to develop new innovative communication services and content

France Télécom–Orange (EuroNext Paris and NYSE: FTE) and Alcatel-Lucent (EuroNext Paris and NYSE: ALU) have decided to join forces and make available their R&D know-how and facilities to develop open innovation in the Brittany and Loire regions. This ambitious program, called Arc Bretagne Atlantique (ABA), aims at helping local enterprises develop new innovative communication services and next-generation content.

Arc Bretagne Atlantique, which is supported by the two regions, complements the Images et Réseaux (Images and Networks) cluster and supports one of its strategic objectives which is to develop the competitiveness of local SMEs and help them grow.

Arc Bretagne Atlantique will thus help speed up innovation. The initiative provides innovative local enterprises and research laboratories with special access to the resources and infrastructures of the two Groups’ regional sites. SMEs will have access to human, technological (hardware and software), business and financial resources, for the development and marketing of their solutions. Main target areas will be applications, services and usages for the Internet and for high-speed and very high-speed fixed and mobile.

Alcatel-Lucent will make available the expertise of its sites in Lannion, Rennes and Orvault, near Nantes, and eventually in Brest. France Télécom-Orange will make available the expertise of its sites in Lannion and Rennes.

“I am particularly delighted by the launch of an initiative enabling local SMEs to move ahead and finance the development of innovative mobile and convergent services based on the communication technologies and content of tomorrow”, explained Thierry Bonhomme, executive director R&D at France Télécom-Orange.

“The Arc Bretagne Atlantique project is an opportunity to incubate new ideas, stimulate the ecosystem and add to the operators’ portfolio of services and applications, in line with our Application Enablement strategy and the global development of LTE”, underlined Pierre Barnabé, chairman and CEO of Alcatel-Lucent France.

Arc Bretagne Atlantique services will span four main categories:
• ABA Shareskills: access to expertise to help on product development, marketing and support of SMEs (including through dedicated training not commercially available).
• ABA Openlab: access to some test platforms of the two Groups and which complement the ImaginLab platform of the Images et Réseaux cluster. This will allow validation work to be performed that cannot be done on ImaginLab. Easier access to hardware and software technology bricks of the two Groups for use by SMEs.
• ABA Application Store: easier introduction of SME products into the commercial solutions of the two Groups (up to and including OEM agreements).
• ABA Incubator: innovative start-ups invited to the premises of Alcatel-Lucent (in cooperation with existing structures within the region) and the creation of spin-off structures.

Arc Bretagne Atlantique also aims to carry out targeted actions focused on the LTE (Long Term Evolution) fourth generation mobile technology, including an LTE Boost offering for developing, prototyping and testing LTE services. A competition will soon be organized for innovative convergent mobile services based on LTE and IMS, to be tested on ImaginLab.

To ensure the project’s success, Alcatel-Lucent and France Télécom-Orange have appointed two co-directors, both having considerable experience and strong local roots, in particular through their presence on the board of the Images & Networks Cluster: Vincent Marcatté for France Télécom–Orange and Gérard Le Bihan for Alcatel-Lucent.