IBM Launches Telecommunications Development Centers

IBM, the world leader in computer services, has announced the opening of four new development facilities across the globe. The centers opened by IBM will work in collaboration with telecom operators to develop new services that will cater to current business communication models.

The development centers will be situated in China, Malaysia, South Africa and France. Their purpose will be to aid telecom service providers in developing new services and applications based on IBM’s Service Provider Delivery Environment 3.0 framework. Software and hardware from various other business partners will also be included in the development process.

The telecommunications center in China will be operating under IBM’s China Development Labs which has already been established. The development work on a new mobile service platform is already underway in partnership with China Mobile.

The IBM development centre in South Africa will located in Johannesburg and is said to cater to the whole of Sub-Sahara Africa. However, there are three development facilities already established in Nairobi, Cape Town and Lagos.

Among the significant projects undertaken in South Africa is a project called "The Enterprise Applications for IMS + SDP for Mobile Healthcare" which demonstrates how hospitals can utilise telecom applications to provide better health care.