IBM Opens Telecom Development Centers in China, South Africa, Malaysia and France

IBM officially opened new telecommunications development centers in China, South Africa and Malaysia to help Communication Service Providers (CSPs) create new business models while improving the customer experience and operational efficiencies. IBM also announced a dedicated center in France for solutions based on products and services from Comverse, a supplier of software and systems for the telecom industry.


The new telecom development centers offer a range of new telecommunications software solutions based on IBM's Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE) 3.0 framework, as well as hardware, services and business partner applications. Clients will include telecommunication operators, network equipment suppliers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and extended service providers.


"To sustain growth in today's economy, service providers are seeking ways to offer subscribers a more positive and differentiated user experience while reducing complexity and cost," said Scott Stainken, general manager for IBM's telecommunications industry. "IBM's specialized global centers and labs offer the telco industry an unparalleled level of expertise and support to speed implementation and facilitate more effective use of applications and technologies."


Some more detail on the facilities:

Comverse Center of Excellence -- located within the IBM Telecom Solutions Lab in France, this facility offers a BSS/OSS (Business Support System/Operational Support System) and Service-Delivery environment using software components from IBM and Comverse that allow clients to test proofs of concept. IBM server and storage hardware, including Power Systems and BladeCenter, provide the dynamic infrastructure foundation for the CoE.


China Telecommunications Solutions Center -- located in IBM's China Development Labs, the IBM Telecommunication Solutions Center (TSC) has been established to accelerate solution development and streamline product delivery. Recently, China Mobile Communications Corporation has been working closely with experts at the China TSC to deploy a platform -- based on IBM Service Delivery Platform, Data Warehouse and Cognos Business Intelligence -- that supports service creation, deployment, execution, integration and management. As a result, China Mobile is able to reduce time-to-market for new products, increase revenue and improve customer service with end-to-end monitoring and analysis.


South Africa Telecom Solutions Lab -- IBM's main Telecom Solutions Lab (TSL) in Sub-Sahara Africa is located in Johannesburg, but clients will also be able to access IBM solution demonstrations from three additional satellite locations in Africa: (Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town). The facility features a "proof of concept" solution called "The Enterprise Applications for IMS + SDP for Mobile Healthcare" which is aimed at improving doctor's productivity and delivery of healthcare services using a wireless infrastructure.


ASEAN Telecom Center of Excellence -- the new Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Telecom Center of Excellence (CoE) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will support CSPs from across the region. http://www.ibm.com/telecom