September 10, 2008
Alcatel-Lucent and Penn State Collaborate on Social Network
By Eve Sullivan, TMCnet Editor
Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) and Penn State University are jointly developing an innovative mobile video social networking application, they announced today at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment tradeshow.
The joint work will focus on the development of a mobile phone interface that gives users the ability to view their video files as a collage or multiple simultaneous video feeds similar to a wall of monitors seen in a TV studio.
“The increasing demands of mobile phone users require the creation of more sophisticated services such as sharing videos with friends and family through social networks. However, the physical constraints of mobile phones (e.g., small screen size, bandwidth limitations, etc.) pose challenges such as how to navigate through such social networks and retrieve and display associated video clips,” said Lee C. Giles, Ph.D., professor of information science and technology for Penn State. “This project will offer valuable insights into other mobile applications, particularly those involving the concept of ‘hyperconnectivity’ or the idea that everything can be connected to produce a multifaceted quality user experience.”
Penn State will be the newest member of the Alcatel-Lucent University Innovations Program, which supports development of high-bandwidth applications for wireless and wireline broadband networks. High bandwidth opens the way to such applications as multimedia services, video, virtual reality, video gaming and more.
Video social networking has relevance to collaborative and remote education, entertainment, sports, healthcare, and government applications.
The Penn State research team, led by Dr. Giles and colleague Dr. Xiaolong Zhang, will explore ways to make it easier for people to access video-enabled social networking capabilities on their mobile phones.
“Combining Alcatel-Lucent’s leadership in wireless and convergence technology, with Penn State, one of America’s top research universities, will spark innovation leading to more exciting and robust applications that carriers can offer their customers regardless of how they are connected,” said Jessica Stanley-Yurkovic, vice president, North America Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent. “Our goal is to create new applications concepts in Penn States’ research labs that challenge today’s concept of what is doable for the user experience to help develop services and technologies that go beyond today’s capabilities, toward a next-generation high-bandwidth user experience.”
In this program, Alcatel-Lucent is teaming with leading universities to uncover new opportunities for ultra-high bandwidth applications to help visualize the future. Alcatel-Lucent will support the development of new communications services that bring value to society: consumers, educational and non-profit institutions, and business.
These applications and services will be based on creating innovations utilizing key emerging technologies and trends such as convergence, mobility, broadband and ultra-high bandwidth applications.
Eve Sullivan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Eve's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Eve Sullivan
