Nortel Networks have announced new details of a new $150 million investment into Australian R&D including the establishment of a new, Australian wireless technology research facility in Wollongong.
The new announcement follows on from the $80 million investment that the company announced last year and will go towards programs to develop wireless technology. The $150 million will be spent on a variety of projects related to the company's wireless strategy over a five year period.
Reg Bird the president of Nortel Networks' Asia South Pacific operations said that while the centre of the operations will be at the new R&D centre in Wollongong, that a significant part of the investment would be in other projects around the country.
"A substantial portion of the A$150 million will be allocated to outsourced and collaborative programs located around Australia, and discussions are currently underway with a number of potential organisations, including Nortel Networks' customers, Australian universities and industry," he said.
The investment will be targeted at growing export revenues for the company, with Bird stating that Nortel expects generate around $600 million in export revenue over the five year period.
The wireless research facility will be built as an extension of the company's existing laboratory at the University of Wollongong. Bird said that the centre's primary focus will be on the application of wireless technology to the Internet.
"We at Nortel Networks view wireless Internet, in particular, as an exciting new opportunity for our customers - combining the advantages of mobility with the multimedia richness of the Internet," Bird noted. "At present, around the world, we are efficiently moving operators from traditional circuit-switched mobile telephony network architectures to next-generation, IP-optimised, packet-based Unified Networks solutions capable of handling today's customer requirements as well as next-millennium traffic driven by growth in new data services and voice."
