Alcatel-Lucent, a Paris-headquartered global leader in mobile, fixed, IP and Optics technologies, announced last week an expansion of its partnership with Rostechnologii, a large, state-owned Russian high-tech corporation much involved in the defense industry.
The two companies have signed a “research and development pact” intended to “accelerate the deployment of advanced LTE services, new network systems and groundbreaking transmission technologies.”
As part of the pact, the two companies will create a new research and development center in Moscow, expected to employ several hundred highly-skilled engineers drawn from both organizations. The joint venture will be set-up with Rostechnologii’s holding company – RusElectronics. The center will be managed by Alcatel-Lucent and will be fully integrated into Alcatel-Lucent’s global network of R&D centers.
“The joint center of RusElectronics and Alcatel-Lucent is Russia’s first center of this kindand and will support Russia’s strategy to export high tech technologies,” said RusElectronics General Director Andrei Zverev.
The new facility, due to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2012, will also carry out development projects for Alcatel-Lucent’s customers globally.
Alcatel has operated for decades in the Russian telecommunications market. In 1990, in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad), Alcatel signed the first joint venture for the production of switches.
