And more lucently

Lucent Technologies was also in the news late week, having been tapped by big boys Verizon Wireless to deploy the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A technology into the nationwide network. Lucent’s Rev. A solution consists of incremental hardware and software upgrades to Verizon Wireless’ existing Lucent-supplied base stations. With the solution, Verizon Wireless seeks to introduce a range of new services such as enhanced push-to-talk, messaging, and VoIP With this agreement, Lucent will continue to be one of Verizon Wireless’ primary next-generation network infrastructure suppliers. Financial details are not being disclosed.

Verizon Wireless and Lucent had previously teamed up to complete the industry’s first, live, over-the-air calls using EV-DO Rev. A technology in August 2005, and have subsequently conducted live VoIP and video telephony calls using the EV-DO Rev. A Quality of Service feature. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A is an enhanced version of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO that seeks to increase the efficiency, data speeds and capacity of existing EV-DO networks. EV-DO Rev. A enables users to receive data at speeds up to 3.1 Megabits per second and send at up to 1.8 Mbps.

Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless owns and operates a wireless network of 53 million voice customers and is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. Supported by Bell Labs research and development, Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies designs and delivers systems, services and software for communications networks. Lucent’s customer base includes communications service providers, governments and enterprises worldwide.