DUBLIN -- Lucent Technologies' (NYSE: LU - News) Bell Labs today officially opened its new research centre, located in Lucent's Blanchardstown, Dublin, facility. The new centre leverages Bell Labs' extensive global collaborative efforts with local universities and research institutions, and also illustrates Lucent's commitment to Ireland as a central component of our European operations.

The Centre's opening was celebrated with an event hosted by Ireland's Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, T.D., and Bill O'Shea, president Bell Labs, and executive vice president Corporate Strategy and Business Development.

Led by Lou Manzione, the Centre's Executive Director, researchers at the facility will focus on advancements in product realization, engineering, manufacturing and value and supply chain techniques, tools and technologies. Bell Labs' researchers will work in collaboration with nine leading Irish universities, technical institutes and the Irish government to advance the fields of product realization and supply chain technologies. One example of such work is today's announcement that the Centre will head a new research project that aims to use nano-textured surfaces to solve the extreme thermal management challenges of advanced electronic and photonic systems.

Already, the Centre has produced results, including: four patent applications underway with Irish universities; collaborations with corporate research organizations on projects in areas such as nanotechnology, electronic devices and mathematics research; more than a dozen visits from Irish faculty members to Bell Labs locations in the United States; and technical exchange visits here in Ireland with more than 40 Bell Labs scientists and engineers from locations around the world.

"At the very heart of Bell Labs is our mission for creating knowledge," said O'Shea. "This endeavor in Ireland will not only build another chapter in Bell Labs' rich tradition of knowledge and innovation creation, but, more importantly, will greatly benefit Irish industry, academia and its people, by establishing new research programs that will directly address the core foundations for modern global competitiveness."

The Centre also unveiled a new museum that commemorates Bell Labs' contributions to telecommunications technology, highlighting specific innovations in wired, wireless and optical communications. Exhibits include replicas of the first transistor and the Telstar communications satellite, the earliest FAX machine and the first cordless phone.

Lucent Technologies Inc.