When “Business Partner” becomes synonymous with “Coworker”
One vision, one goal
Close your eyes and imagine you are in a restaurant where you get to sample a huge variety of dishes and then decide what to order. Wouldn’t that be grand? Everything is there waiting for you to taste test. Of course, there would be recommendations and paring suggestions from the experts, but in the end, you get to decide what works for you.
Now open your eyes. You are standing in a room. You can feel the energy. There’s the familiar low hum of equipment that brings a smile to your face. In front of you are network demos – all shapes and sizes. Welcome to the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Solution Lab where you get to decide exactly what works for you.
Experience the possibilities
It can be difficult to grasp the full benefit of technology when it’s not operating in a real environment. The Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Solution Lab in Colombes, France, offers ALE Business Partners (BPs), the opportunity to experience the future of technology. You can participate in live demonstrations, guided by our in-house experts, sample simulations that represent your unique requirements, or sit down with a Powerpoint presentation and take a deeper dive into all things technical.
Madani Dahili, a Solution Architect at ALE for 10 years, is one of the originators of the Solution Lab. He’ll tell you he is living the dream of all geeks. One of his primary tasks is to familiarize BPs with network infrastructure possibilities and demonstrate the potential that technology offers. Much like a fine chef creates a delectable menu, visionary solutions are created in the lab. Those creations are a response of constantly evolving new devices, building infrastructure changes, innovative service offerings and demand for greater productivity.
A technology feast
If fine ingredients are fundamental to fine food, then you have probably guessed that what sets the ALE Solution Lab apart from other lab environments is the state-of-the-art equipment. The heterogeneous nature of the lab ensures optimal network architectures are possible. In addition, it ensure that they represent today’s reality where network elements may be supplied by a variety of telecommunication companies. Madani will tell you this is essential to ensure that all components operate the way they would in real-world environments.
Information is key
Let’s take a step back to the restaurant for a moment. If you share your preferences with the chef upfront, you could have a better experience and not have to try a bunch of stuff you don’t like. Imagine a chef cooking a special dish for you with no knowledge of your likes or dislikes. The point here is that information is key. Whether it’s about your food preferences or your network architecture plans, access to live demos and having equipment in front of you provide information at your fingertips and choices can be made based on experience. Together, BPs and Solution Architects can adapt and build the best network architecture.
In it together
In addition to his role as Solution Architect, Madani is also a key consultant. His goal is to understand your vision and offer his experience and guidance to create the best possible outcome. According to Madani, “people think that campus and data center networks are just a bunch of boxes. But believe me, they are more valuable than you think!” Optimizing your network to meet your business needs is a shared goal for both ALE Solution Architects and Business Partners. The ALE Solution Lab is here for you. Your vision is our vision, your goals are our goals.
