07/12/2011 - BASKING RIDGE, NJ and WALTHAM, MA — Verizon today marked the official opening of the Verizon Innovation Center, located in Waltham, Mass., at the heart of the high-technology industry in the Northeast.  Conceived as a place where companies large and small, entrepreneurs and others across the LTE ecosystem would come together to create the next generation of products that wirelessly connect people, places and things, the Verizon Innovation Center stands ready to propel the development of solutions that spotlight the power and possibilities of 4G LTE.

“The Verizon Innovation Center is named after the core of who we are and what we stand for as a company: innovation.  From the outset of this project, Verizon understood that the potential for innovation is bigger than Verizon alone,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless.  “Today, as we officially open the Verizon Innvoation Center, we thank and congratulate everyone who has been a part of the process, and we invite everyone to join us to explore the next frontier of wireless connectivity.”  

The Innovation Center, which is designed to enable and showcase products, services and solutions that take advantage of the power, speed and reach of Verizon’s 4G LTE wireless network, also encompasses laboratory space where engineers and developers from across the LTE ecosystem can create and build a new generation of connected products – the kind of solutions that will help drive the growth of 4G LTE.  More than 300 technology experts work at the Innovation Center, which is comprised of two buildings with more than 135,000 square feet of labs and office space in one building and 60,000 square feet with both showcase and office space in the building being opened today.

The ground-breaking for the new building and updates to the labs began in April 2010, and both projects were completed earlier this year.  During construction, engineers began work in the Innovation Center Labs, in October 2009, where a replica of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network was built to allow companies to develop and test products before the commercial network launched in December 2010.  The replica 4G LTE network still exists, so developers can work on products and solutions in the lab environment, without impacting the commercial network.  To date, more than 30 products have been developed and demonstrated in the new building as well as at industry trade shows, customer meetings and other venues.

Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson are founding participants in the Innovation Center, and  Cisco and Samsung Mobile are premier participants.  Engineers and other subject matter experts from these companies work side by side with Verizon engineers on projects generated by the Innovation Center labs, and each company has a permanent display highlighting 4G LTE technology and solutions for visitors to experience on the main floor of the building.

The Verizon Innovation Center was designed by the architecture firm Nelson, in collaboration with content provider Downstream.  John Moriarty and Associates was the construction manager.  The Verizon Innovation Center is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Later this summer, Verizon expects to mark opening day of a sister Innovation Center on the West Coast.  The Application Innvoation Center, located in downtown San Francisco, will be a place for application developers to hash out ideas, polish applications, and test them on Verizon’s 4G LTE network before bringing them to consumers or businesses.

For more information about the Verizon Innvoation Center, including a list of participating companies, visit http://innovation.verizon.com.  For more information about Verizon Wireless and its 4G LTE network, visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte.