Vodafone announced the launch of its Silicon Valley
integrated R&D Center, Vodafone Xone. Under the Vodafone Xone program,
Vodafone, with 382 million customers in more than 30 countries, will provide
technical expertise, potential financial assistance, logistical support and
facilities to help promising US technology companies gain a fast track into
proof-of-concept trials across Vodafone’s global network.
As Vodafone’s mobile R&D center in Silicon Valley,
Vodafone Xone is intended to identify and qualify innovative technologies from
startups, R&D labs, universities and venture capital portfolios with the
potential to deliver new and innovative products and services to Vodafone’s
global customer base.
Vodafone Xone provides selected companies with commercial
feedback. Companies will be offered support from the Vodafone Xone team of
professionals whose expertise spans business development, network and device
architecture, consumer electronics, payment and billing mechanisms, data
analytics and content delivery. Up to 24 companies are able to use on-site
office and test space within Vodafone Xone.
Vodafone Xone test products and services in the Vodafone
Xone test and development lab, a fully functional replica of Vodafone’s global
networks including a protected environment for developers to test solutions.
Capabilities include 2G/3G/LTE radio and an Internet Protocol (IP) network
together with access to the IP service framework IP Multimedia Subsystem.
The lab is interconnected via a dedicated backbone to
Vodafone’s European networks. Vodafone Xone is also closely aligned with
Verizon’s Innovation Centers in San Francisco and Waltham, Mass., giving select
companies access to Verizon Wireless’s development 4G LTE network, the high-speed,
next-generation platform common to both Vodafone and Verizon Wireless, as well
as additional collaboration resources;
It also assesses options for strategic investments in
startups via Vodafone Group’s corporate venture capital arm Vodafone Ventures.
“Vodafone Xone offers Silicon Valley startups access
to more than a third of a billion customers in more than 30 countries around
the world. We’re excited about this opportunity to share our scale and global
expertise with the brightest and best the valley has to offer,” said
Siavash Alamouti, director of Research and Development, Vodafone Group.
“As an entrepreneur myself, I’m very excited about
the opportunity to enable innovations that are directly relevant to Vodafone’s
global customer base. I’m looking forward to providing other entrepreneurs with
the tools and support that will help them bring their ideas to life,” said
Fay Arjomandi, R&D’s Head of US/China, Vodafone.
The Vodafone Xone team is set to organize and host a
range of collaborative events including seminars, and other initiatives aimed
at attracting new technologies into the program.
Vodafone Essar recently announced its run up to the motor
racing event in India. Vodafone announced the launch
of ‘Vodafone Race to Fame’ an engagement platform, which includes a host of
activities.
This initiative includes two different challenges
‘Vodafone Race to Fame- Life in the fast lane’ where 4 winners (2 consumers and
2 global enterprise customers) will get ‘a-money-can’t-buy’ experience, to
spend the weekend with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (VMM) team during the
motor racing event scheduled to be held at Noida, India on the 28-30 October
2011.
By Telecomlead.com Team
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