Officials of PLDT and Nortel inaugurate the PLDT-Ateneo Advanced Network Testbed. Shown at the affair are (from left) Engr. Elisa Gesalta, vice president of the Operations Engineering & Provisioning Center of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company; Antonio Pio de Roda, managing director of Nortel Philippines; Dr. Anna Miren Gonzalez-Intal, vice president for the Loyola Schools of the Ateneo; and Dr. Fabian Dayrit, dean of the Ateneo School of Science and Engineering.

The turnover program was participated in by Dr. Anna Miren Gonzalez-Intal, vice president for the Loyola Schools of the Ateneo; Dr. Fabian Dayrit, dean of the Ateneo School of Science and Engineering; Dr. Rosula Rehes, chair of the ECCE Department; and Dr. Nathaniel Libatique, ECCE assistant professor. Antonio Pio de Roda, managing director of Nortel Philippines, and Elisa Gesalta, vice president of the Operations Engineering and Provisioning Center of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company also graced the event.

Donated for research and advanced training were two units of the Nortel Optera Metro 4150 with dual STM-4 lines for service and protection and line cards for provisioning of up to three DS3 and 16 E1 tributaries. The OM4150 is used as optical transport equipment using SDH technology, which will allow the ECCE students to test for example, a data signal like Fast Ethernet from Ateneo to PLDT Innolab and back to Ateneo by doing a loop-back connection at PLDT Innolab. Other applications may also be tested, including video conferencing, through which, data, voice and video may be transmitted from Ateneo to PLDT Innolab and back.

"Nortel very much values this collaboration with the Ateneo. It provides an excellent opportunity both to showcase technologies to students who will be future technology leaders, and to explore avenues for research with academe’s best and brightest," Pio de Roda said.

Dr. Gesalta, meanwhile, said that such collaboration between industry and academe will not only benefit the students but will also strengthen scientific cooperation within the community. She added that she looked forward to the fruits of such collaboration.

After the lunch reception, the guests were ushered into the MVP Room where ECCE students exhibited and explained innovative projects that applied voice and data communications technology.

Nortel has worked closely with PLDT on a number of major next-generation network (NGN) capacity expansions. Through these networks, a range of converging technologies – including 3G broadband wireless, DSL, Wi-Fi and WiMAX – will be able to support multiple fixed and wireless applications, such as IP television, mobile entertainment, voice over IP, personal mobile communications, telemedicine and remote learning.

The Ateneo BAT Labs team includes Dr. Greg Tangonan, former director of HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California and Dr. Nathaniel Libatique, ECCE assistant professor and an international expert on tunable laser and photonic devices and systems. Also on the team are engineer Cesar Pineda, one of the chief architects of the Philipine DEFON (Domestic Fiber Optic Network) submarine cable network; engineer Leonora Guico, formerly of NTC and award-winning mentor for a number of SMART-SWEEP innovation awards; and Jose Claro Monje, who conducts research on custom MAC protocols for advanced wireless networks.

The PLDT-Ateneo Advanced Network Testbed is a one-of-a-kind facility with nodes at the PLDT Teltec/Innolab at Dansalan, Mandaluyong and at the Ateneo Broadband Access Technology lab, housed at the PDLT-Convergent Technologies.

The labs are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment such as fiber networks, mobile wireless access, laser communications, and wireless LANs. Students pursue research projects under the umbrella of multi-year research programs to get hands-on expertise in developing new service offerings.