Alcatel-Lucent has announced the opening of an R&D center in Istanbul dedicated to the development of network technologies. Approved by Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the center was also supported by the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT). The center will directly contribute to the enhancement of the company’s portfolio and will help support all of its customers around the world. It will initially employ 62 Turkish engineers with the total number of employees set to reach 100 within a year.
It is envisaged that the R&D center will play a substantial role in the development and testing of some of Alcatel-Lucent’s most innovative product offerings for service providers, such as femtocells, IP Multimedia Subsystems, Pre/Post-Paid Mobile Payment Development, touchatag™ products and services and Smart Metering solutions.
“Turkey has a great potential in terms of technical know-how and qualified workforce. The Turkish engineers take part in successful projects all over the world. With the opening of the 61st R&D center certified by Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, Alcatel-Lucent is more than ever ready to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Turkey in terms of advanced technology and engineering resources,” said Luis Martinez-Amago, President of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in the CIS, Central and Southern Europe. “We have established an active operating facility, consistent with Turkish law, within our structure. Through this center, we are aiming to increase Turkey’s contributions to Alcatel-Lucent’s global success.”
Alpaslan Korkmaz, President of ISPAT, added, “The Alcatel-Lucent R&D center illustrates the dynamism of Turkey that attracts more and more overseas businesses. We are delighted that, once again, ISPAT has helped pave the way for strategic and high value-added investments, and has offered its knowledge and experience to optimize Alcatel-Lucent’s business. We are carefully looking to multiply the coordination with several ministries like Industry and Trade, Transportation, Finance, etc. to fine tune the support schemes for technology and engineering centers, according to the potential investors’ needs.”
