Verizon Wireless To Open Application Innovation Center In San Francisco This Fall

BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Plans are underway for the Verizon Wireless Application Innovation Center (AIC), which is scheduled to open in San Francisco later this year, the company said today. The Center will be a place for developers, network engineers, entrepreneurs and others to work together on innovative applications that take advantage of Verizon Wireless’ leading 3G and 4G LTE mobile networks.

First revealed at the Verizon Developer Community (VDC) Conference, the San Francisco facility will be connected to Verizon LTE Innovation Center, located in Waltham, Mass., in order to optimize synergies between development activities at each location.

The AIC is taking shape in the heart of downtown San Francisco, conveniently located near Silicon Valley and a growing nexus of developers in the city itself. Construction of the Center, located on Spear Street, began last month, and when complete the space will include several collaboration labs, private development labs, and offer access to Verizon Wireless equipment and services not available elsewhere. Participants will be able to interact with Verizon Wireless experts in application development, software development, network APIs, network performance and business development, all together in one place.

“The goal of the AIC is to engage developers, pro-actively share Verizon Wireless’ technical and marketing experience and expertise, and ultimately bring truly innovative applications and services to all of Verizon's customers,” said Brian Higgins, executive director of Ecosystem Development at Verizon Wireless. “As the mobile ecosystem grows, the AIC aims to play an important role in bringing in new developers and nurturing new ideas.”

Companies large and small will be invited to spend time at the AIC to create, optimize and polish their ideas and turn them into viable applications for wireless customers. The collaborative approach is designed to facilitate connections between developers and a wide range of Verizon Wireless partners.

The LTE Innovation Center in Massachusetts has spurred development for products, services and solutions ranging from home monitoring and control, health care, visual collaboration, gaming and more since it opened its doors in 2009. A similar collaborative model will be applied to the application space.

Over the next few months, Verizon Wireless, together with its VDC Advisory Board, will continue to work with developers to provide details and explore different projects. Interested developers should visit http://developer.verizon.com/aic for more information, or follow www.twitter.com/vzdevelopers for updates on the Centers and the company’s work with developers.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Information about the Application Innovation Center and Verizon Wireless’ work with developers across the ecosystem will be among the topics of the third annual VDC Conference scheduled for Sept. 13-14, 2011 in Las Vegas. Please bookmark http://developer.verizon.com and check back for more information.)

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 94 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

####