Alcatel-Lucent wireless upgrade aims to ease LTE move

Alcatel-Lucent on Thursday rolled out a new wireless equipment portfolio that is designed to make it easier for wireless carriers to move from 2G and 3G networks to the speedier long-term evolution platform.

The company is calling its rollout the "ultimate wireless packet core". With the move, Alcatel-Lucent is joining the ranks of companies trying to help carriers provide speedier broadband of both the wireless and wired flavours. Alcatel-Lucent primarily competes with Cisco, which recently bought Starent, and Juniper Networks, which is also targeting wireless carriers.

Lindsay Newell, vice president of marketing for Alcatel-Lucent's IP portfolio, said the company's latest products — the 7750 SR LTE packet gateway, Wireless Mobility Manager, 5620 Service Aware Manager and 5780 Dynamic Service Controller — are designed to appeal to 2G and 3G carriers that plan to eventually move to long-term evolution (LTE). The pitch is that Alcatel-Lucent's gear will eliminate the need for incremental upgrades as carriers take steps to reach an LTE network.

For more on this story, see Alcatel-Lucent upgrades wireless portfolio; Enables tiered data plans, LTE on ZDNet.com.