The surprising (or not?) news to come out earlier this week was TechCrunch reporting that Cisco is interested in Skype. The price? $5 billion. The rumor sent the blogosphere into a tizzy… Does it make sense? Does it not? What value does Skype add? Is Cisco admitting that it cannot beat Skype?

No, it doesn’t make sense. I want to see Skype go forth with its IPO. I want to see the market reaction to Skype’s valuation. What could Cisco possibly gain with Skype? Yes, there are millions more users, but most of them use Skype for free. Where’s the money in that? And if the plan is to make Skype into an enterprise communications tool, then the risk is alienating millions of everyday users. Google would be happy about that. Last time I checked, most folks don’t have expensive Cisco phones at their desks.

Come on, leave Skype alone, please.

As for something that’s less of a rumor, Alcaltel-Lucent bought another company. OpenPlug, a French company specializing in development tools for multiple mobile platforms, finds itself part of Big Telecom. What does it all mean to you? Well, if you’re not a Blackberry enterprise then you can rejoice. Yes, to me it’s just hard to believe that a mobile development tool wouldn’t support the Blackberry. But the bigger picture is that ALU continues to show that it is serious about newer Web and mobile technologies.

Google also rolled out telephony features within Gmail. It appears that Google Voice and Gmail have fused together — quite nicely, too. Now conducting a voice call is as simple as mouse clicks in the browser (Chrome, as Google hopes). Once rolled out Google saw a surge in voice usage, and that’s probably why for the past few days the quality has gone down significantly. To the point that my calls get disconnected all the time. Now I wish Google hadn’t opened up Voice for everybody to sign up…

Today the company announced the acquisition of OpenPlug, a French company specializing in cross-platform development tools for mobile devices. OpenPlug’s flagship product, ELIPS Studio, fulfills the developer’s dream of “write once, run everywhere” (hmmm, have we heard that somewhere else before?) when it comes to mobile applications.

Alcatel-Lucent wants to remind you that this is the second acquisition in recent months — in June it scooped up ProgrammableWeb, a site dedicated to Web APIs. And who can forget ALU’s foray into the cool and hip with its participation in SXSW 2010? Is ALU seeking to be the Microsoft of the telecom space?

It’s obvious that it wants attention from today’s mobile-savvy developers. With OpenPlug, ALU can now offer a development tool for its customers to create enterprise apps with less hassle. However, there’s one thing that’s missing: no support for RIM Blackberry? Kudos for supporting bleeding edge mobile OSes like Android and Apple iOS (iPhone and iPad), but I want to know why Windows Mobile is supported but not Blackberry? Walk into any sizable company these days, and about 90% of the time you’d find more employees with BBs than WinMos.

I certainly hope Blackberry support is on the road map. What easier way to make inroads into the enterprise mobile market, right? Perhaps Crackberrys mainly reside in the U.S. and not so much in France or the rest of Europe? But if ALU is eying the American enterprise market, there’s absolutely no excuse not to hold hands with the Blackberry platform…

Press release from ALU:

Paris, September 1, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has acquired OpenPlug, a mobile software and applications development tools vendor. Through this acquisition, Alcatel-Lucent deepens its role in the applications space by delivering, as part of its integrated suite of developer tools, a platform where application developers can write an application once, which will then be translated to run on any of the five major mobile operating systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Alcatel-Lucent can now extend OpenPlug’s functionality to service providers, enterprises and developers so they can create and deploy applications — in virtually record time and without sacrificing the unique customer experience — across multiple mobile devices and within service provider app stores. As a result, applications that had previously only been available on more sophisticated devices such as smartphones, can now be enjoyed by consumers on any mobile device, which opens up opportunities in emerging markets, where low cost mobile phone circulation is highest.

This is the second acquisition Alcatel-Lucent has made over the past three months to expand and enhance the application ecosystem. In June, the company acquired ProgrammableWeb, the technology industry’s go-to source of API-related content.

“While demand for mobile apps is peaking, so is the fragmentation of mobile development platforms and tools,” said Michael Cote, analyst for Redmonk. “This makes it very expensive to target all devices and can lead to putting all your eggs in one, often tightly controlled basket, like Apple’s, or doing a least-common denominator, mobile web app that can’t benefit from full native device access. A tool that can target all platforms is hugely needed in this space, and OpenPlug should work well with the total mobile app development portfolio Alcatel-Lucent is putting together.”

Thanks to OpenPlug, service providers, enterprises and developers do not have to be selective about which of the many mobile platforms they will write applications for, thus limiting their potential for service adoption and revenue potential. OpenPlug’s mobile software turns every device into a smart device. It allows developers to write applications once and convert application code into native software that runs on any leading mobile device operating system, including iPhone®, Android®, Symbian®, Windows Mobile®, and Linux®.

“Being able to provide more applications across multiple devices helps service providers significantly broaden their app store content to create more value for consumers,” said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent’s global developer strategy. “As service providers typically offer multiple mobile devices to their subscriber base, the OpenPlug software can help them get to market five times faster by allowing them to easily port an application to all of their devices. And this isn’t purely a mobile play — the software can be extended to support application development for IPTV set top boxes, game consoles, even the ng Connect LTE Connected Car.”

“Deploying valuable web and mobile services requires assembling many different pieces from many horizons,” said Eric Baissus, CEO of OpenPlug. “By combining OpenPlug’s ELIPS Suite and ELIPS Studio technologies with Alcatel-Lucent’s platforms and API services, we enable developers and service providers to gather all these pieces in a very efficient and consistent way. This will dramatically facilitate the deployment and the monetization of the new generation of applications that the market is expecting.”

The OpenPlug toolset will be incorporated into Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform and Open API Service, thus broadening the functionality available to service providers, enterprises and developers for the exposure of network assets and the rapid introduction of new services across mobile and Web domains.

The move advances Alcatel-Lucent’s Application Enablement strategy, which is focused on combining the trusted and secure network capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web to provide a richer end-user experience.

About OpenPlug
OpenPlug is a software provider specialized in mobile telephony and commercializes under the ELIPS name a range of patented technologies that facilitate the development of mobile phones, smartphones and the applications that run on them. ELIPS Studio offers the first open software development environment allowing Independent software vendors (ISVs) to create and deploy simultaneously in record time their mobile applications on iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux and other proprietary systems. ELIPS Suite is a white-label application suite that facilitates the design of mass-market mobile phones and ships in millions of Tier-1 mobile phones worldwide. OpenPlug products are used by leaders of the mobile industry such as Sony Ericsson, Intel Corporation, Arima Communications, Foxconn, as well as thousands of application developers. Founded in 2002, OpenPlug is based in Sophia Antipolis – France. For more information, visit OpenPlug’s corporate website at www.openplug.com or the ELIPS Studio Developer Zone at http://developer.openplug.com. (iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Linux are registered trademarks of their respective owners.)

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet:http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

Contact the Alcatel-Lucent Press Office: press@alcatel-lucent.com

Consider this: Phoenix-based Teleku started in January 2010, went private beta in February, became publicly accessible in March, picked up by TechCrunch in April, and acquired by Voxeo in August. So not even six months as a publicized startup, Teleku has been absorbed into one of the premier Web/cloud telephony companies.

Mark Headd on his Vox Populi blog shares his insight about the trend:

Portability – underscored not only by Teleku’s support for the open standard VoiceXML, but also the Tropo crew’s involvement in the Asterisk world, and the defacto standard for building Asterisk apps in Ruby - Adhearsion.

SIP integration – remember this kids: true cloud telephony has SIP baked in – the rest is just marketing fluff. Both Tropo and Teleku support SIP interoperability and make it very easy for developers to use SIP as part of their applications.

Multi-channel / multi-modality – Both Tropo and Teleku have big multi-modal chops. Being able to interact with users on multiple communication channels from one code base is a key tenant of unified communications and cloud telephony, and this will become increasingly important in the future.

Speech recognition – cloud telephony isn’t your grandfather’s way to build a phone app, so why should users be restricted to their grandfather’s way of interacting with a phone app? Speech recognition is fully supported in both Tropo and Teleku, and this will matter more and more to cloud telephony developers going forward.

This trend is undeniable. As I’ve blogged before, the new generation of telephony apps will be created by developers comfortable with mashups, Web standards, and scripting languages. So what movements can we expect going forward and from this acquisition?

Obviously, all eyes are on Twilio, the biggest competitor to Voxeo-backed Tropo. There’s a tweet that stood out to me, by @christoffe, which alleged that Twilio wanted to buy Teleku but “didn’t move fast enough.” Teleku founder Chris Matthieu confirmed that he did meet with the three cofounders of Twilio in San Francisco. But alas, Twilio and Teleku were not meant to be together.

Twilio has some good and well-known DNA in its leadership. It lists Dave McClure of Founder’s Fund and Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures as board directors, two VC names that need no further introduction. Other notable investors listed on CrunchBase include Mitch Kapor (of Lotus fame) and Chris Sacca (one of the first investors in Twitter). Total funding dated 12/2009: $3.7 million. No chump change, but now it has to face Voxeo’s $9 million (at least).

Will Twilio look for an exit? Obviously it understands the need to create a stronger organization with its interest in Teleku. Now it definitely needs a partner that is deep in telecom yet focused on the Web transformation. One company that comes to mind is Alcatel-Lucent, a company that’s made some interesting moves recently too, such as acquiring ProgrammableWeb.

Of course, there’s no telling which company Voxeo may gobble up next to change the game again.

Official press release:

Paris June 29, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has acquired ProgrammableWeb, the technology industry’s universal source for Web APIs (application programming interfaces) used by application developers to build web, mobile, and other connected applications that serve consumers and the workplace.  Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Web APIs enable developers to create new applications leveraging various kinds of content and functionality.  Alcatel-Lucent’s acquisition of ProgrammableWeb will help bring together an ecosystem of service providers, enterprises, and developers to drive the creation of unique applications today and in the new world of broadband mobile through LTE.

ProgrammableWeb will continue to operate as a separate entity, maintaining its repository of over 2,000 Web APIs which are regularly accessed by a community of hundreds of thousands of developers, and continuing its role as the industry’s most comprehensive content source for Web services development.  Alcatel-Lucent will provide support and resources to promote the continued and robust growth of the API and developer ecosystem, and facilitate service providers’ participation within that ecosystem.

For Alcatel-Lucent this acquisition provides an important new channel to partner with the Web developer community – a dialog it has started with its Open API Service and Developer Platform.  It also gives Alcatel-Lucent access to general API usage patterns, allowing it to build highly relevant API bundles for its Open API Service. ProgrammableWeb’s API monitoring services, API trial services, and automated API updates will be integrated into Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent will be able to share its developer resources, such as its dashboard that helps developers track application monetization, with ProgrammableWeb’s developer community.

“If you look at any organization that launches an API, you quickly realize that the one thing the most successful APIs have in common is a vibrant developer ecosystem,” said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent’s global developer strategy.  “Our goal is to protect the uniqueness and independence of ProgrammableWeb as an API repository and developer resource, while adding beneficial technologies and service provider relationships to the mix for everyone’s benefit.”

This move advances Alcatel-Lucent’s Application Enablement strategy, which is focused on combining the trusted and secure network capabilities of service providers with the speed and creativity of the Web to provide a richer end-user experience.

“ProgrammableWeb has always sought to put developers first, by giving them the most timely and comprehensive picture of everything related to APIs,” said John Musser, ProgrammableWeb founder who is moving to Alcatel-Lucent, but will continue to oversee the repository’s operation.  “That mission will be strengthened and expanded by joining forces with Alcatel-Lucent.  As APIs become more central to software strategies in all domains, we’ll make ProgrammableWeb an even better one-stop independent source.”

About ProgrammableWeb

ProgrammableWeb is the leading online destination dedicated to mashups, APIs and the Web as a development platform. Founded in 2005, ProgrammableWeb offers the Internet’s largest directory of Web 2.0 APIs and mashups. With over 2,000 open APIs and thousands of real-world mashups, users can search, contribute, and connect as part of ProgrammableWeb’s active mashup developer community. The site also offers daily industry news, analysis, case studies, tools and technical resources. Regularly featured in major publications worldwide, including Forbes, Newsweek and CIO, ProgrammableWeb is a recognized industry authority. For more information, visit www.programmableweb.com.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet:http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

Contact the Alcatel-Lucent Press Office: press@alcatel-lucent.com

Reminds me of the story about the South Lake Union Trolley — ahem, SLUT — in Seattle.

Thanks for brightening my Monday, ALU.

First, if you are a publicly-traded company and anybody can own your company shares, then the company executives’ foremost concern should be to profit the shareholders within the boundaries of law and regulations. Recently I wrote about Alcatel-Lucent’s depressing 1Q2010 results — down almost 10% YoY and a stock price that’s going nowhere. The company exists in a highly competitive market with competitors that are multiples of its size. It’s a tough situation, especially in this weakened economy. Then I come across this post from ALU’s official blog about the company’s leadership and participation at the Clean Technology Showcase in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission:

On May 18, we were among several industry leaders, technology and energy policymakers, state governments and foreign embassies that participated in the FCC’s Clean Technology Showcase in Washington, D.C., which highlighted developments in communications technology and energy efficiency.  FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski hosted the event, which included U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Federal Energy Regulatory Chairman Jon Wellinghoff as special guests [you can find out more on http://blog.broadband.gov]. Other demonstrators included Ericsson, GE, Panasonic, Google and Samsung.

During the event, we highlighted our leadership role in GreenTouch™, the research consortium initiated by Bell Labs, and displayed recent advances in modular cooling, in sustainable power for mobile base stations, and the recent European Commission recognition with its Sustainable Energy Europe Award for Alcatel-Lucent’s Alternative Energy Program [read more in this post].

Was it more about being green or being in Washington? In 2009 the company spent nearly $2 million in lobbying and almost half a million dollars have already been spent in 2010. How much money was also spent just to be green? How would the balance sheets and income statements look if all the “green cash” was re-allocated to R&D, product development, sales and marketing, etc.?

Having a green conscious is great, but what if it’s only making the shareholders see red?

And no, I am not an investor in Alcatel-Lucent.

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• Controversy rages over Green Touch initiative (channelweb.co.uk)

Quarterly revenues decreased 9.8% year over year and decreased 18.1% sequentially to €3.247 billion. By operating segments, Networks saw a double-digit decline in revenue, partly attributable to a shortage of components in supply chain. This has been particularly true in wireless access and terrestrial optics. Applications revenue declined 6.3% year over year with enterprise solutions & Genesys relatively stable. Services segment was more resilient with a 3.1% year-over-year decrease supported by managed services and multivendor maintenance.

Even Genesys isn’t faring that well? “Relatively stable” as in “revenues will continue to decline as the same rate”? And a “3.1% year-over-year decrease” is considered resiliency? There doesn’t even seem to be a hint of sunshine in this quarterly report. What about getting customers to upgrade to the fancy new version, Genesys 8? What happened to the momentum of G-Force Chicago and G-Force Amsterdam? And the high profile partnerships with Lithium social media and InQuira knowledge management solutions?

I have a feeling that this year we’re going to find out whether the Genesys acquisition and the subsequent restructuring and reorganization were effective.

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• Alcatel-Lucent shares plunge after Q1 net loss (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Employees from different companies leave and join other companies all the time, so you’re asking why is Rob Hilsen‘s defection to RNT newsworthy, especially on a blog about contact centers and telecom…

First of all, Hilsen was with Genesys/Alcatel-Lucent for 4 1/2 years (according to his LinkedIn profile), until recently as PR Manager. I may be a n00b in the whole PR/AR realm, but I know a star when I see one by digging into his online profiles and tweets. Analysts have nothing but praise for Hilsen (and in turn, for the corporation he represented), and that comes from him doing his job well — engaging, intelligent, and accessible. I have no doubt that he was instrumental in shaping the positive public image the contact center industry has about Genesys and even Alcatel-Lucent.

Secondly, we all know that ALU had undergone some significant re-org fairly recently, and I cannot help but wonder if this had anything to do with Hilsen’s departure. His title is now Director of Analyst Relations, a promotion by joining the red hot Bozeman, Montana-based CRM company. RightNow Technologies has been making news and acquisitions recently, so it’s definitely expanding its desktop and cloud empire. But it is still fighting a tough battle against more well-known competitors like Salesforce.com, so beefing up its PR definitely makes sense in a multi-pronged attack to go along with aggressive sales and new products.

The third point to make is the delicate relationship between coopetitors Genesys and RNT, specifically on the social CRM offerings which I’d briefly covered before. RightNow dominates the web social CRM space, but Genesys definitely has an interest in desktops too as evident in its partnerships with InQuira and Lithium, direct competitors to RNT. Things will get interesting for Hilsen at his new job for sure…

By the way, Genesys’ website still lists his contact information so let’s see how long it’ll take for them to realize that Hilsen is no longer with them. Everybody on Twitter (and which corporate PR/marketing person isn’t on Twitter?) already knows about it:

Oh wait, not just on the Twitterverse, but the news spread in the blogosphere too!

Rob Hilsen (Twitter) has joined the RightNow Technologies analyst relations team as Director. Rob was the special guest on the March AR Coffee Talk discussion the AR leading-edge best practice of “Customer Innovation Awards” (click here for replay).Please join us in congratulating Rob and wishing him great success in his new position.

Congratulations and looking forward to seeing more of Hilsen’s tweets!

We’re down in Austin for the first time, rocking an unbelievably popular and creative lounge and talking to what seems like a constant barrage of developers and attendees about what it means to bridge the telco and Web 2.0 worlds. Day One saw more than 200 “what app would you build?” ideas posted to our ideation wall, a highly interactive ideation session captured by our graphical facilitator, and 11 entrants in our first ever App Idol contest (where two lucky contestants took home Bose Sounddocks). Day Two saw an even more vibrant contest and a continually packed lounge (and even more discussion).

Now we know Alcatel-Lucent is serious about the U.S. market and more specifically, aiming to entice the Web-savvy generation to develop cool apps using its new API bundles. Smart move, ALU:

South by Southwest Interactive, Austin, TX, March 12, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced the industry’s first packaged API (Application Programming Interfaces) bundles, and an associated revenue sharing model that radically transforms application development by eliminating upfront costs for developers and opening new revenue opportunities for service providers. The announcement is part of a larger push by Alcatel-Lucent to give developers the ability to use the network as a development platform in the same way they currently build applications for mobile devices and the Web.

The company also announced a powerful new business and application modeling tool that allows developers to get the most out of their applications. This new functionality helps developers and service providers improve the potential for the success of services they are introducing and helps them better manage the overall business of their applications.

Alcatel-Lucent will showcase these and other tools, which are part of its developer platform and program (and core elements of its Application Enablement vision) at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, (March 11 – 16, 2010 Austin, TX) in the “Eleven API Lounge” of the Hilton Hotel, directly across from the Austin Convention Center.

New Bundled APIs
A bundled API is a unique offering from Alcatel-Lucent that blends service provider and third party application capabilities to support the easy creation of new applications. These API bundles enable a new revenue share model intended to transform service provider networks into an application development platform by unlocking network resources and functionality – similar to what smartphones and apps stores did for the device world.

The company’s first vertical API bundles include three social bundles supporting the creation of new mashups in the rapidly growing social gaming, advertising and virtual goods markets. Collectively, the APIs included are SMS, advertising, location, virtual goods, credit card and billing. The initial delivery of these API bundles targets the 14+ million developers worldwide and the two fastest growing and increasingly profitable applications markets today: mobile advertising and virtual goods. Recent industry research suggests mobile advertising will exceed $3 billion by 2013 and that today’s virtual goods market is between $4-6 billion globally. Alcatel-Lucent is providing developers access to beta versions of the social API bundles within a virtual sandbox for non-commercial use in a laboratory type environment. Developers can access the bundles via Alcatel-Lucent’s Open API Service.

“We welcome the pioneering social API initiative of Alcatel-Lucent to provide more upside for developers to reach better monetization through added targeting value, such as location,” said Herald Neidhardt, CMO and co-founder of Smaato Inc, a mobile advertising company.

The new revenue share model allows developers to access the API bundles without the burdensome upfront API fees that, until now, have traditionally been a major pain point, while earning a portion of the revenue from applications leveraging the APIs. Service providers, third party API contributors and Alcatel-Lucent can also share a percentage of the applications revenue for making unique APIs available in a way that safeguards the security and privacy of their subscribers’ data. By allowing service providers to make money on the applications that run “over the top” of their network, the business model addresses a sore point of increased costs associated with today’s data explosion.

“The business model benefits everyone across the value chain. Whereas service providers did not share in an application’s revenue before, they now gain new sources of revenue from ad network or virtual goods applications. They can invest that income back into their network, which in turn supports new services innovation,” said Johnson Agogbua, head of Application Enablement solutions for Alcatel-Lucent.

New Dashboard Functionality
To support the bundled API approach, Alcatel-Lucent has also expanded its Dashboard tool to provide developers with a more personalized and detailed view of their applications and end users including: number of downloads, type of transactions, application performance, and revenue generation from campaigns and apps stores. This data is compiled across major apps stores — GetJar, Android and iTunes – to provide a comprehensive picture of how a developer’s application rates with consumers and stacks up against other industry applications. By making these additional tools available on its Dashboard, Alcatel-Lucent will expand its developer community reach to more than 20,000 developers.

Enthusiastically received by the developer community upon its introduction at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow last month, the Dashboard and API bundling model are being expanded with contributions from leading third party vendors: APIgee, Billing Revolution, Motally, SMaato and Zhing.

About Alcatel-Lucent’s Application Enablement strategy
Application enablement is an industry vision and network approach that combines the trusted capabilities of network operators and the speed and innovation of the web to provide end users and enterprises what they demand: a richer and more trusted web experience and beyond. Through a strategic focus on application enablement, Alcatel-Lucent is helping its customers create new value by exposing their network capabilities in a managed and controlled way, facilitating new business models and improving return on investment. For more information, go to http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/application_enablement/

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation,  and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Contact the Alcatel-Lucent Press Office: press@alcatel-lucent.com

AT&T, of course, is known for being the lucky carrier to team up with Apple in rolling out its iPhones. Both AT&T and Apple are Genesys — an Alcatel-Lucent company — customers. AT&T has multi-site contact centers around the globe and within the U.S. which uses Genesys. Apple’s contact centers in Texas and California are also powered by Genesys.

And during the recent Genesys analyst conference, it was revealed that Apple asked Genesys to develop an application for the upcoming iPad tablet.

In 2008 AT&T won a Genesys Customer Innovation Award. In 2009 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) was prominently featured and asked to present in G-Force Orlando — IHG uses AT&T to host Genesys in the cloud.

So when I saw the latest press release from Alcatel-Lucent about AT&T’s LTE project, I couldn’t help but wonder about the developing lovefest between the three A’s…