Alcatel-Lucent Acquires OpenPlugAlcatel-Lucent Acquires OpenPlug

Continuing its drive to create a universal mobile applications platform, Alcatel-Lucent announced it has acquired OpenPlug, which has developed tools that allow mobile application developers to write an app once and be capable of running on any of the five major mobile operating systems. The move follows Alcatel-Lucent's acquisition earlier this summer of Programmable.com, which has created a repository of web APIs (application programming interfaces) for application developers.

OpenPlug's mobile software and applications development tools are integrated and allow developers to write applications once and convert application code into native software running on the major mobile operating systems including Android, iPhone, Linux, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

Alcatel-Lucent said the platform will be valuable to service providers, enterprises and developers for creating and deploying applications in virtually record time across multiple mobile devices. OpenPlug's toolset will be incorporated into Alcatel-Lucent's developer platform.

"Being able to provide more applications across multiple devices helps service providers significantly broaden their app store content," said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent's global developer strategy, in a statement. "And this isn't purely a mobile play -- the software can be extended to support application development for IPTV set top boxes, game consoles, even the ng Connect LTE Connected Car."

Alcatel-Lucent noted that developers don't have to be so selective about the devices they write applications for, because they can write applications once and convert the app code into native software for any device using one of the five leading mobile operating systems.

"By combining OpenPlug's (technologies) with Alcatel-Lucent's platforms and API services, we enable developers and service providers to gather all pieces in a very efficient and consistent way," said Eric Baissus, OpenPlug CEO, in a statement. "This will dramatically facilitate the deployment and the monetization of the new generation of applications that the market is expecting."

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