Innovation Center

Verizons Innovation Center consists of two buildings, a 135,000-square-foot facility and a new 60,000-square-foot building, pictured here. A sister facility, Verizons Application Innovation Center, is scheduled to open in San Francisco later this summer.

Verizon officials showed of an ONStar-powered Buick that is being used as a test-bed for the carriers LTE telematics. The cars on-board computer system—with information fed via Verizons 4G network—can give the driver directions, Web browsing capabilities, real-time traffic updates and cameras showing traffic at certain spots on the route, updated video instruction manuals, and video recordings that start up when an impact to the car is felt.

A new company, Vgo Communications, is working on a robot sporting immersive video collaboration capabilities that can be remotely operated and offers two-way video and audio communications via Verizons LTE platform. The company is eyeing the enterprise, health care and education sectors as key potential growth areas.

Ericsson and Verizon are working on what the companies are calling an Office in a Box, a device that offers SMBs the 4G LTE voice and data connectivity they need, with the ability to expand the offering when needed.

LiveEdge.tv is developing a product that will enable television news stations to replace their expensive news vehicles that send video via microwaves with a 1.5-pound unit that attaches to the back of the TV camera. The device sends the video from the scene to another LiveEdge.tv device at the station through the LTE network. The technology promises to cut a stations capital costs from as much as $250,000 for a van to $45,000 for the device, plus reduce operating expenses by 75 percent.

TouchTunes Interactive Networks offers a fleet of digital jukeboxes that leverage Verizons 4G LTE network. The company currently has more than 48,000 devices in bars and restaurants across the United States that run on the 4G network where available, and local WiFi where Verizons service has yet to reach.

Verizon Wireless President and CEO David Mead said he sees 4G technology playing a key role in a number of areas, such as connected homes, health care, distance learning, telematics and—as seen here—cloud-based, multiplayer, 3D games.

Verizon officials see a significant role for 4G-powered products in the home, from wide-screen televisions to a device that keeps track of a users health status.

The carriers 4G LTE network also will power connected household devices, such as this refrigerator, one of several devices controlled by the user via the connected laptop.

This 4G LTE-connected bike is a prototype that has everything from a camera next to its front wheel to a display on the handlebars that relays information about the bike and rider back to a central place via the Verizon network. A company official said there are no plans to release this kind of bike right now, but that the data gathered from it can help shape technology used in such devices as the LTE-connected car.

Verizon officials put on display the various LTE equipment that forms the backbone of the carriers 4G network.