Development and innovation activities are a strategic asset for Italtel and the basis for its growth strategies. During the last years, IP technology has gained an important role in the telecom industry and Italtel’s R&D activities have followed this technology evolutions. Skills and competences of human resources have therefore focused on the development of innovative products and solutions for voice, data, video convergence.
A large part of the Italtel employees works in the Development & Innovation with a costant investment, in terms of specialists and expenditures, in the innovative ICT sectors as NGN 2.0, Web 2.0, Global Convergence of the Networks, Devices, Services, IP Unified Communication Solutions, Network Management Systems, Network Integration.
Moreover, Italtel R&D commitment has been aknowledged also at European level. In fact, according to the 2008 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard (see Other Links and Related Documents on the right), in 2007 Italtel ranked 156th among the top 1,000 R&D investors in the European Union, improving its position compared to previous year (in 2006, in fact, it ranked 166th). In 2007 Italtel also ranked fourth among all the EU manufacturers in the R&D by Telecommunications Equipment, maintaining the same position compared to 2006.
Italtel has reached its leading position in providing telecom operators with innovative network solutions, thanks to its competences and skills and to the ability of providing customized solutions according to customers’ needs.
The constant evolution of networks and the growing diffusion of the broadband are modifying the use of the Internet which is no longer "the network of information" and has become "the network of knowledge sharing" or, as many call it, the Web 2.0.
For Italtel, Web 2.0 means two definite concepts: convergence and cooperation. And for both of them, 2.0 must signify high standards of quality of services.
Internet, initially simply a transmission protocol, is becoming the platform onto which all communications networks are converging, from traditional fixed telephony to mobile telephony with all its developments (UMTS, HSDPA) in which IP is used to link users and exchange data. For this reason, the Internet is no longer just a network protocol, but a system that has spawned an appreciable range of customs and services.
The role of Italtel in the season of IP convergence is that of putting different nets and different languages into communication, and supplying new services that are made possible by the combination of areas that were once separate: fixed and mobile telephony, and the Internet.
Italtel's research engagements include a variety of European projects, within the Eureka R&D program and the IST area (Information Society Technologies) concerning the 7th EU Framework Programme.
