Montreal telecom institute launches R&D consortium

The Montreal-based International Institute of Telecommunications (IIT) has launched a pre-competitive R&D consortium with a target of $50 million over five years. A who’s who of telecom companies have pledged an initial $27 million in the first year, including Nortel Networks Corp, Bell Canada, Ericsson Communications Canada, Hewlett-Packard, EXFO, Rogers Wireless and Microcell Telecommunications Inc. Their support will allow the establishment this summer of a non-commercial, multi-standard, multi-platform labora- tory to conduct R&D to accelerate the development of new applications and services on a real-life network. In addition to equipment and service providers, the consortium will involve universities. The consortium is part of the recently created Canadian Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC Net), a network of wireless laboratories across Canada (R$, March 3/04).