PARIS and MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Alcatel-Lucent Opens the Door to a Faster, Smarter, and Greener Internet

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext and NYSE: ALU) has unlocked the potential for radical new Internet applications and services with a technology hailed as the key to greater capacity, faster connections and reduced congestion on the web.

Alcatel-Lucent has today unveiled a next-generation chip that will dramatically enhance the infrastructure needed to access rich new online services, from broadcast-quality high-definition video conferencing to applications in the business and professional world.

The new 'FP3' chip will eliminate the bottlenecks preventing such services from taking off today, widening the Internet's digital highways while enabling dramatically higher data speeds and improving traffic flow. At the same time, the chip will lower the energy consumption of networks, requiring up to 50 percent less power than equivalent chips in use today.

Ben Verwaayen, Alcatel-Lucent Chief Executive Officer, said: "This is the key to unlock a new world of online communications. It's easy to think the Internet of today does all it will ever be capable of, but we have scarcely scratched the surface of its potential. This chip creates tremendous potential, not just in terms of technology, but in terms of how people connect and interact with each other."

Basil Alwan, President of Alcatel-Lucent's IP Division which developed the chip, added: "Alcatel-Lucent is broadening the possibilities, the value and the efficiency of what can be delivered over the Internet. We have taken a major step forward in the ability of service providers to deliver exciting and compelling applications for use by consumers and professionals alike."

Major telecom operators, including BT, NTT and Verizon today welcomed Alcatel-Lucent's announcement and its potential to enable faster, smarter and greener networks and applications.

Karl Penaluna, President of Global Networks and Computing Infrastructure at BT, said: "We see no end to our customers' insatiable demand for bandwidth, especially on our Ethernet platform. As cloud-based services emerge and rich multimedia services proliferate, this type of technology can help us provide the best quality of service at even higher speeds."

Masato Minamisawa, Vice President of IP Technology in the Business Network Services Department of NTT Communications said: "We look forward to the new functions and increased performance of Alcatel-Lucent's FP3 silicon technology. This next generation network processor will enable rich, market leading service innovation at the network edge."

Ihab Tarazi, Vice President Global Network Planning of Verizon, said: "Verizon continues to enhance the FiOS and wireless data broadband access capabilities for our customers and we have worked with Alcatel-Lucent to deploy next generation Ethernet and MPLS metro technology.  In March of this year, Verizon led the industry with a 100G Ethernet field trial based on Alcatel-Lucent's service router technology with its 100G FP2 silicon engine. We are excited to work with Alcatel-Lucent and continue to push the industry in technological innovation to support the significant growth of access data traffic."

Editor's notes

Alcatel-Lucent's new FP3 processor tailors network capacity and performance to different needs, ensuring flawless broadband delivery of entertainment, business-to-business communications and digitized public services. The systems, operating at 400 Gigabits-per-second (G), will extend Alcatel-Lucent's current second-generation technology, which today delivers an industry-leading 100Gigabits-per-second.

In addition to a fourfold performance improvement compared to the current industry benchmark, the FP3 processor is also designed to reduce the environmental impact of IP networks, consuming up to 50 percent less power and taking up 30 percent less space within a service provider's premises.

The FP3 processor has been developed by Alcatel-Lucent's IP Division, which generated revenues of €1.46Bn in 2010, growing more than 24 percent from 2009.

To learn more about this innovation:

Join the Alcatel-Lucent webcast June 28, 10am EST at:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-eventDetails&c=234389&eventID=4136614

Or, visit the Alcatel-Lucent FP3 website at: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/fp3

About Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU)

The long-trusted partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries and governments around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leader in mobile, fixed, IP and Optics technologies, and a pioneer in applications and services. Alcatel-Lucent includes Bell Labs, one of the world's foremost centres of research and innovation in communications technology.

With operations in more than 130 countries and one of the most experienced global services organizations in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach.

The Company achieved revenues of Euro 16 billion in 2010 and is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent