Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is to launch two new products that will allow consumers to experience their communications provider's Gigabit speeds throughout the home and in turn, faster more reliable Wi-Fi® connectivity across all their devices.

More and more consumers are subscribing to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services that deliver broadband speeds of hundreds of megabits per second or even a gigabit per second. However, those speeds are difficult to maintain throughout the home due to poor Wi-Fi speeds and reliability. The problem gets worse as consumers increase the number of devices simultaneously connected to the Internet - including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, gaming devices and more.

Alcatel-Lucent's new 7368 Intelligent Service Access Manager (ISAM) optical network terminal (ONT) is a home network hub that solves this problem, ensuring consistent distribution of broadband speed throughout the house. By using dual-band Wi-Fi and greater signal strength, it provides 1 Gbps of bandwidth and better in-home coverage, meaning that there is no impact on speeds or the customer experience as more devices are connected.

Alcatel-Lucent is also launching a new capability for its FTTH portfolio that will allow operators to connect customers more quickly and easily. 'ONT Easy Start' is an online activation feature that combines Alcatel-Lucent's innovative Motive™ family of customer experience management solutions with its services expertise to allow consumers to activate their new FTTH services via a web portal. ONT Easy Start helps operators reduce the time and cost of sending field technicians to homes while also reducing the homeowners inconvenience of having to wait for a visit. Replacing the manual, time-consuming registration process will also reduce the risk of human error.

The company is now trialling the new optical network terminal with customers, and will make it and the ONT Easy Start feature commercially available during the third quarter of 2015.

About Alcatel-Lucent's Gigabit Wi-Fi ONT

Using the latest advances in Wi-Fi technology, Alcatel-Lucent's new Gigabit Wi-Fi 7368 ISAM ONT G-240W-B delivers on the promise of the operator's fiber network speed without requiring additional wiring. By offering their customers this one-box wireless gateway, operators can deliver the full gigabit ultra-broadband experience across both wireless and wired devices in the connected home, with:

  • Dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11ac/n on 5GHz and 802.11b/g/n on 2.4GHz) providing up to 1 Gbps bandwidth and offering customers the super-fast speeds they demand across all their connected devices.
  • Up to 500 milliwatt of transmit power, depending on the region. This ensures customers see the same quality of Wi-Fi experience in every room of the house as well as outside, on every connected device.
  • Faster access to data with the latest USB technology (USB2.0 and USB 3.0), letting customers store photos, videos and music in a central location and access them from any device in the home.

About ONT Easy Start for Alcatel-Lucent FTTH solutions

ONT Easy Start brings together Alcatel-Lucent's FTTH technology, Motive CEM solutions, and professional services to give operators an integrated view and advanced workflows that are designed to simplify the ONT set-up and registration process:

  • Motive self care and field tech applications provide intuitive, graphical interfaces through which subscribers or field technicians can perform the ONT set-up.
  • Motive Service Management Platform uses automated workflows to simplify ONT activation and configuration - and performs service orchestration between network element managers and the Motive care applications.
  • Professional services integrate the solution in the operator's current network management system.
  • An end-to-end GPON FTTH solution is offered with the Alcatel-Lucent 7360 ISAM FX and 7368 ISAM ONT products.
  • FTTH solution management is provided by the Alcatel-Lucent 5520 Access Management System.

Federico Guillén, president of Alcatel-Lucent's Fixed Access Business Line said: "With the Internet of Things enabling an unprecedented number of objects to interact and share data, connected device shipments are expected to grow at a faster rate than smartphones and tablets over the next few years, placing huge demands on home Wi-Fi networks. By offering the first gigabit Wi-Fi solution we are helping operators deliver on the promise of their fiber networks to meet their customers' ever-growing demands for connectivity and speed. ONT Easy Start will open up new options for operators, allowing them to free up resources as they reduce costs."

distributed by