Augmented reality offers a new way to easily access Web content, replacing the need to type in URLs. Using object recognition and putting the computational heavy lifting on the network, AR opens the door to an easy to use, application that has broad appeal for everyday use. Once this technology becomes mainstream, look for "AR enabled" media and products to be commonplace.

About the Authors:
Jason Collins is the senior director of strategic solutions in Alcatel-Lucent's Chief Technology Office. Collins has more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications industry in technical research and development and marketing. Today, he leads an organization that identifies and builds strategic communications solutions at Alcatel-Lucent, including entertainment and augmented reality.

Collins has worked in academia and for service providers and equipment vendors. He began his career in R&D at Georgia Tech researching broadband communications systems, the physical and MAC layers. He held various positions for several service providers such as AT&T.

Collins holds a patent for digital video delivery over DSL and has patents pending for automated configuration of IP networks and automated diagnostics of IP network problems. You can reach Collins by email.

Melissa Aiken is the director of marketing for Alcatel-Lucent's Americas Region, Chief Marketing Office. She has more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications and computing industry in sales and marketing. Today, Aiken works in the Market Advantage Program (MAP), an exclusive resource for ALU Customers designed to help them better understand market opportunities, gain competitive advantage, reduce time to market and accelerate revenue from new services enabled by Alcatel-Lucent products.

At Alcatel-Lucent, Aiken has held several roles, including strategic analyst for the services business, senior research analyst focusing on wireless technologies and applications, and global alliance product manager.

Melissa started her career at NCR selling personal computers, servers and software and then became a senior marketing analyst specializing in strategy and technology. At AT&T she was responsible for public relations research with key constituent customer segments. You can reach Aiken by email.

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