Continuing advances in next-generation communication technologies, services, and networks

Communications-available, convenient, converged, diverse, economical, effective, flexible, inerrant, integrated, manageable, personalized, real time, reliable, seamless, secure-these attributes are central to the focus of Alcatel-Lucent's research and development efforts to conceive, cultivate, and deliver robust technologies, systems, features, performance, applications, and services for local, regional, and global communication networks. The papers of this General Papers issue, like those of the annual general issues before it, are a representative glimpse of the breadth and depth of the continuing corporate activity and commitment to these key objectives. The comprehensive nature of Alcatel-Lucent's efforts worldwide may readily be observed when the spectrum of the contributions to this issue are categorized in a manner paralleling the present organizational framework of the company's business divisions and research domains. And so we have grouped the papers presented here accordingly. As we describe in the following sections of this overview, contained within this General Papers issue the reader will find reports of significant, recent, and ongoing work on original concepts and results in the areas of mobile and fixed access; optical networks; communication networks and networking; applications, services, and services infrastructure; and security.