registration document France Telecom 2009 - Orange.com

innovation, research and development, patents and licenses
11
INRIA or Supélec). France Telecom is also fi nancing four
Research Chairs.
France Telecom is a key player in R&D programs through various
governmental partnerships, at both the French level (ANR
projects) and at the European level (7th European Commission
framework program, EUREKA-CELTIC).
Finally, in France, France Telecom participates in seven
competitiveness centers set up to foster local synergies for
innovative projects, fi ve of which are global, and it chairs the
Image and Networks Center.
Patents and Licensing
France Telecom has a portfolio of 7,718 patents in France
and abroad (issued or fi led) that were streamlined in 2008 and
enhanced by the registration of new patents, France Telecom’s
aim being to protect its innovations and its ability to develop
freely. In order to maximize the value of its R&D, some of these
patents are licensed through programs such as a program for
“Turbocodes” technology that covers 3G and WiMax mobile
networks; and the MediaFLO mobile television technology
in the United States; or through patent pools for patents
corresponding to industry standards (MP3, MPEG Audio, DAB,
DVB, W-CDMA, G729, IEEE802.11x, NFC, ISDB-T) in Japan.
Value maximization also concerns software such as engineering
tools for the mobile network.
In 2009, 349 new patents were registered, issued primarily by
the Orange Labs R&D division of France Telecom S.A.
Management of Technological Interests
Within the R&D division, Management of Technological
Interests includes venture capital companies France Telecom
Technologies Investments (FTTI) and Innovacom3, management
companies Innovacom Gestion (France) and Orange Venture
Capital Investment Management (China) and holding companies
Orange Capital Management S.A. and France Telecom Capital
Development (FTCD). FTCD, the parent venture capital holding
company and full subsidiary of France Telecom, owns stakes in
three types of funds:
■ a Corporate Venture fund (through FTTI), with the objective
of monetizing France Telecom’s intellectual property in
exchange for stakes in start-up technologies;
■ venture capital funds whose management is open to third
parties (FCPR Innovacom 4, 5 and 6);
■ and external venture capital funds that are managed by third
parties and are internationally diversifi ed (Europe, United
States, Canada, Japan).
In 2009, as part of its strategy of investing in innovative Chinese
start-ups, FTCD continued to build up its two ad-hoc investment
vehicles, including the French holding company Orange Capital
Management S.A. and Chinese venture capital fund Orange
Venture Capital Investment.
Significant events of 2009
In 2009, several technological innovations from Orange Labs
were added to the Group’s products and services, including:
■ an upgrade to the domestic network, with the launch of
Livebox 2.0, which is more energy effi cient, more user-friendly
and easier to install.
■ access to multimedia content through:
■ a search engine that uses automatic indexing technologies
for written, audio and video content, making it possible to
group and rank this content. This search engine made it
possible to open the 24-hour news portal,
■ non-linear content tools (to replay content several days after
it airs) such as M6 Replay,
■ RSS fl ow vocalization tools;
■ 3D audiovisual technologies:
■ spatialized 3D, image and sound recording of Don Giovanni,
live from Rennes opera,
■ live, 3D broadcast of French Open matches for Fiber
customers;
■ multimedia on mobiles:
■ opening of an application download site for Orange mobiles;
■ High Defi nition mobile voice, with the world-premiere launch
of this service in Moldova;
■ cloud computing, which gives business customers
and consumers access to computing resources and to
applications hosted on the operator’s network and therefore
large storage and processing capacity;
■ business voice services (for more information on these
services, see Section 6.3.6 Enterprise Communication
Services (ECS)) with the roll-out of:
■ all-IP business telephony through the Business Talk IP SIP
offer,
■ simplifi ed business telephony technologies available directly
on the Business Livebox.
Finally, in the area of network development, the main research
avenues have involved increases in speed of fi xed and
mobile networks (with optical networks), cost optimization,
the improvement of the quality of service and the inclusion of
sustainable development aspects.
11
2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / FRANCE TELECOM
277