Alcatel-Lucent has acquired OpenPlug, a mobile software
and applications development tools vendor. Alcatel-Lucent
says that this acquisition enables Alcatel-Lucent to use
OpenPlug's mobile software to allow developers to write
applications once and convert application code into native
software that runs on any mobile device operating system,
including iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and
Linux.
Alcatel-Lucent plans to extend OpenPlug's functionality
to service providers, enterprises and developers to create
and deploy applications in quick time and without sacrificing
the customer experience across multiple mobile devices and
within service provider app stores. Therefore applications
that had previously been available only on devices such
as smartphones, can now be enjoyed by consumers on any mobile
device.
This is the second acquisition Alcatel-Lucent has made
over the past three months to expand and enhance the application
ecosystem. In June, the company acquired ProgrammableWeb,
the technology industry's go-to source of API-related content.
"While demand for mobile apps is peaking, so is the
fragmentation of mobile development platforms and tools,"
said Michael Cote, analyst for Redmonk. "This makes
it very expensive to target all devices and can lead to
putting all your eggs in one, often tightly controlled basket,
like Apple's, or doing a least-common denominator, mobile
web app that can't benefit from full native device access.
A tool that can target all platforms is hugely needed in
this space, and OpenPlug should work well with the total
mobile app development portfolio Alcatel-Lucent is putting
together."
Alcatel-Lucent says that due to OpenPlug, service providers,
enterprises and developers are do not have to be selective
about which of the many mobile platforms they will write
applications for. The OpenPlug toolset will be incorporated
into Alcatel-Lucent's Developer Platform and Open API Service
"Being able to provide more applications across multiple
devices helps service providers significantly broaden their
app store content to create more value for consumers,"
said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent's global
developer strategy. "As service providers typically
offer multiple mobile devices to their subscriber base,
the OpenPlug software can help them get to market five times
faster by allowing them to easily port an application to
all of their devices. And this isn't purely a mobile play
-- the software can be extended to support application development
for IPTV set top boxes, game consoles, even the ng Connect
LTE Connected Car."
"Deploying valuable web and mobile services requires
assembling many different pieces from many horizons,"
said Eric Baissus, CEO of OpenPlug. "By combining OpenPlug's
ELIPS Suite and ELIPS Studio technologies with Alcatel-Lucent's
platforms and API services, we enable developers and service
providers to gather all these pieces in a very efficient
and consistent way. This will dramatically facilitate the
deployment and the monetization of the new generation of
applications that the market is expecting."
