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Alcatel-Lucent: Open Patent Alliance formed to advance WIMAX 4G
Technology; Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel, Samsung, Sprint
Ally to Form WiMAX Industry Patent Pool
(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
RDATE:09062008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- To accelerate the widespread adoption and
deployment of WiMAX technology and products, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco,
Clearwire, Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics and Sprint today
announced the formation of the Open Patent Alliance (OPA). The OPA will
advance a competitive and open intellectual property rights model, thus
stimulating a larger WiMAX industry that supports innovation through
broader choice and lower equipment and service costs for WiMAX
technology, devices and applications globally.
WiMAX is a 4G, IP-based broadband wireless technology that provides
low-cost, multi-megabit speed and greater throughput for the mobile
Internet era of video-rich content and bandwidth-intensive
applications. It is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard.
To accomplish its goals, the OPA will form a WiMAX patent pool to help
participating companies obtain access to patent licenses from patent
owners at a predictable cost.
The patent pool will aggregate essential patent rights needed to
implement the WiMAX standard as defined by the WiMAX Forum and the IEEE
802.16e standard. To help ensure product differentiation and
interoperability at a more predictable cost, this approach will focus
on providing a more competitive royalty structure by charging only for
the features required to develop WiMAX products. The patent pool will
incorporate a variety of royalty licensing solutions, including
accounting for cross-licensing among individual members within the pool.
In addition to the formation of a WiMAX patent pool, the OPA will
educate the WiMAX ecosystem about, and serve as a central resource for
WiMAX intellectual property rights topics.
The OPA will issue a call for WiMAX essential patents for inclusion in
its patent pool. An independent third-party reviewer will serve as the
"patent referee" and will evaluate submitted patents to determine how
essential they are to the WiMAX standard and WiMAX Forum profiles.
While the OPA initially will focus its efforts on the WiMAX standard,
it may work with other industry groups in the future.
Made up of six founding companies at its inception, the OPA expects to
secure participation of an additional six to nine investor companies to
encompass the WiMAX value-chain and broad geographic representation.
Each investor company will have a seat on the OPA board of directors.
The OPA will have dedicated staff that is directed by and accountable
to the OPA board, and the alliance will serve as the licensing agent
for the WiMAX patent pool, representing the licensors who agree to
participate in the pool.
OPA Founded With Broad, Cross-Industry Support "As an early and
consistent supporter of the WiMAX 802.16e ecosystem, Alcatel-Lucent
believes that end-user experiences will drive the broadband wireless
revolution," said Philippe Keryer, President of Alcatel-Lucent's mobile
access business.
"We are confident that the formation of the Open Patent Alliance, which
is fully in line with Alcatel-Lucent's Open CPE Program, will ensure
that a broad and diverse set of devices will be available to the
consumer, enabling service providers to deliver an unparalleled
selection of applications and optimized device form-factors that can
unleash the huge potential of broadband wireless anywhere, anytime,
that WiMAX enables."
"Cisco supports the Open Patent Alliance and its charter to stimulate
further adoption of WiMAX broadband wireless technologies and enhance
the mobile experience around the world," said Brett Galloway, senior
vice president of Cisco wireless and security. "By driving the adoption
of WiMAX, innovative technologies will help enable people to move
freely throughout the world while maintaining continuous connectivity
to cool new applications and services."
"Clearwire fully supports the OPA as a vehicle that will ensure the
rapid development of an open, worldwide WiMAX ecosystem," said Scott
Richardson, chief strategy officer of Clearwire. "We are committed to
innovation in all aspects of WiMAX technology, from the network
infrastructure to end-user devices. Just as mobile phones now connect
to people rather than places, Clearwire is giving our customers the
ability to access the Internet, at true broadband speeds, when they are
on the go."
"Intel's vision in driving the formation of the Open Patent Alliance is
to bring the openness of the Internet and computing industries to the
wireless industry and WiMAX" said Sriram Viswanathan, vice president,
Intel Capital and general manager, Intel WiMAX program office. "By
facilitating an open intellectual property rights model, we expect the
alliance to in turn create a more competitive, innovative and broader
WiMAX industry that ultimately benefits the consumer with more choice
for WiMAX technology and services."
"Samsung Electronics is very proud to join the OPA with
industry-leaders in WiMAX technology," said Hwan Chung, senior vice
president of Samsung Telecommunications America. "We believe that this
initiation can be a significant momentum to expand mobile WiMAX
services. Thanks to a flexible and easily adoptable scheme for
participants, we can accelerate the mobile WiMAX deployment and
marketing so that people can enjoy the benefits of fast,
revolutionarily new, and more cost-effective data communications."
"We expect to unleash wireless innovation with this patent alliance,"
said Barry West, president of Sprint's XOHM business unit. "The open
licensing program will help prompt pervasive WiMAX technology. This
speeds the day when consumers can enjoy the convenience of WiMAX mobile
broadband services on new devices in new places, and experience all the
open Internet has to offer."
For information regarding the submission of patents for testing, visit
the OPA Web site at external link www.openpatentalliance.com.
Information about and a replay of the OPA web cast held earlier today
can be found at external link
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/prod_060908.html.
About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that
transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information
about Cisco can be found at external link http://www.cisco.com. For
ongoing news, please go to external link http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About Clearwire
Clearwire, founded in October 2003 by wireless pioneer Craig O. McCaw,
is a provider of simple, fast, portable and reliable wireless
high-speed Internet service. Clearwire customers connect to the
Internet using licensed spectrum, thus eliminating the confines of
traditional cable or phone lines.
Headquartered in Kirkland, Wash., the company launched its first market
in August 2004 and now offers service in 50 markets across the U.S. as
well as in Europe. For more information, visit external link
www.clearwire.com.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops
technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how
people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available
at external link www.intel.com/pressroom and external link
blogs.intel.com.
About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor,
telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies
with 2007 consolidated sales of US$103.4 billion. Employing
approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the
company consists of four main business units: Digital Media Business,
LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, and Telecommunication Business.
Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung
Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile
phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit external link
www.samsung.com.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers,
businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for
developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies,
including two wireless networks serving nearly 53 million customers at
the end of the first quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data
services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities;
and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit
external link www.sprint.com.
Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other
countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Forward-Looking Statements Information in this press release that
involves expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the
future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a
number of risks and uncertainties. In this press release they are
identified by references to dates after the date of this press release
and by words such as "outlook," "will," "will be," "remains," "to be,"
"plans," "believes," "may," "expects," "intends," "should," "continue,"
and similar expressions. A number of factors could cause actual future
results to differ materially from those expressed in the
forward-looking statements set forth in this press release.
The companies believe the forward-looking statements in this press
release are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and
speak only as of the date of this release. The companies are not
obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking
statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides solutions that
enable service providers, enterprise and governments worldwide, to
deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. As a
leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP
technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the
end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for
people at home, at work and on the move. With operations in more than
130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The
company has the most experienced global services team in the industry,
and one of the largest research, technology and innovation
organizations in the telecommunications industry. Alcatel-Lucent
achieved revenues of Euro 17.8 billion in 2007 and is incorporated in
France, with executive offices located in Paris.
CONTACT: Alcatel-Lucent Press Office
e-mail: press@alcatel-lucent.com
WWW: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
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Copyright ? 2008 M2 Communications Ltd.
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