Verizon Wireless officially opened its Application Innovation Center in downtown San Francisco Wednesday, in an event attended by the firm’s top executives, including CEO Dan Mead.
“Innovation is at the very core of what Verizon does, and what we stand for,” Mead told assembled press, adding that LTE was the “signature technology” which would push the company forward.
The new center will fall under the umbrella of Verizon’s larger LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass., which opened its doors last month. The San Francisco center, however, will be specifically dedicated to development, testing and troubleshooting of applications. It will also serve as the main touch point between the developer community and the carrier.
“We’re ready to take the next step,” declared Mead adding, “no one has a monopoly on good ideas. Verizon intends to encourage all ideas.”
The center, which hosts a small number of full time Verizon staff including 20 full time engineers, boasts 4G LTE test labs and spaces where developers can come to work on platforms from Verizon’s partners including Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. The space also includes a room which can be shuttered to all outside interference, allowing developers to test unstable apps away from the main Verizon network.
“We have a pretty healthy relationship with developers,” Verizon’s director of technology for the applications ecosystem Larry Rau told RCR. Rau noted that an important factor in the carrier’s relationship with app developers was the fact it left their IP well alone.
“We don’t want people to think that if they come and work with us, we take some kind of ownership, because that’s not what we’re about,” he told us. “It’s a collaborative space,” he added.
Marni Walden, Verizon’s CMO said the opening of the facility was a “great day for Verizon, but a better day for Verizon customers,” going on to call San Francisco a “hub for cutting edge apps.”
While some apps developed in its new labs may go on to see spectacular success, said Mead, others might not, but Verizon is keen to tempt any developer with a dream through its doors.
“We’re going to continue to innovate and we’re very excited about what’s to come,” he concluded.
