Alcatel-Lucent's ng Connect is now going on three years old, and it seems to be growing quite nicely. Alcatel-Lucent, which provides service provider equipment, has been quickly building an ecosystem of partners to create end-user experiences--ones that service providers could deliver and capitalize on, and then, of course, use the proceeds to turn around and buy more gear.

Alcatel-Lucent sees itself as "orchestrating innovation across an entire marketplace," according to Jason Collins, vice president of emerging technology and innovation. That starts with an open API platform for developers, and one to which service providers can also contribute--so, for example, a service provider might expose some of its billing APIs so that developers and others can build applications that can take advantage of them.

The program now has 125 member companies, which include the likes of Intel, HP, and Samsung.

The video below provides just a glimpse into three very explosive examples (out of many that Alcatel-Lucent had on display at CES) of what ng Connect and its partners are providing--from a user-generated video content program, to an emergency vehicle tricked out with technology, and a health and fitness demonstration.

Fritz Nelson is the editorial director for InformationWeek and the Executive Producer of TechWebTV. Fritz writes about startups and established companies alike, but likes to exploit multiple forms of media into his writing.

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