Bell Labs (News - Alert), the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent and SK Telecom, a leading telecommunications provider in Korea, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, or “MoU,” to enable the development of next-generation networking technologies. 

According to Jae Wan Byun, senior vice president and head of Institute of Network Technology, SK Telecom (News - Alert), the agreement provides a great opportunity for both companies to collaborate on future core telecommunication technologies.

SK Telecom’s wide range of end-user services and capability in network commercialization will complement Bell Labs’ R&D power in telecommunication area to develop new innovative technologies for the next-gen networks.

In wireless arena, the two companies agreed to work toward defining what the shape of wireless networks, in particular the applications running on those networks, will look like beyond the 4G networks that network operators are intending to launch over the next few years.

The companies also plan to focus on developing methods for enabling increasingly complex networks to manage and configure themselves. This area needs great attention because the demand for these self-optimizing networks is expected to grow as network operators aim to achieve greater efficiencies.

Through this partnership, SK Telecom will collaborate in core technologies such as interference control, network automation and virtualization in a multi-network environment, which will contribute to optimizing network transmission as well as reducing network maintenance costs. 

Bell Labs officials said that the project will serve as a platform for the research firm to deepen its capabilities in emerging technology areas and broaden the scope of its research program in Korea.

“We believe that Bell Labs’ preeminent research capabilities in emerging network technologies combined with SK Telecom’s market experience could lead to new growth opportunities for Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) and enable SK Telecom to achieve its strategic objectives,” Debasis Mitra, head of Global Research and University Partnership, Bell Labs, said.