Where present, future network

Verizon Wireless to unveil its new facility in Waltham

July 11, 2011|By Calvin Hennick, Globe Correspondent

Verizons new facility offered a consumer lab, pictured here. Officials… (Bill Greene/Globe Staff )

WALTHAM - A digital jukebox with instant wireless access to 3 million songs. A device that extends cellphone coverage to the back of large grocery stores. And a suitcase that’s wirelessly connected to your social network and can tell you when you’ve forgotten to bring it along.

Which product is market-ready, which will be available soon, and which is a vision for future wireless technology?

At the Verizon Technology Innovation Center in Waltham, which will celebrate its grand opening tomorrow, it can be difficult to tell the present from the future.

The center is a showcase for Verizon, a place for its corporate customers and development partners to come and be wowed. Visitors pass through a pair of stone-façade doors that slide apart, allowing entry into a narrow enclosure with colorful lights that pulsate softly, mimicking a heartbeat. The passage leads to an expansive showroom space with demonstration kiosks, wall-sized touchscreens, and a coffee bar. The building also includes a private reception area and a 30-seat movie theater.

Christine Berberich, regional president for Verizon Wireless in New England, said the exhibits are meant to show off the capabilities of the company’s new high-speed 4G LTE cellular network, as well as showcase specific products.

“It’s not just about the devices and the phones,’’ Berberich said. “[Customers] want the connections.’’

On display are both current and future technology. That wireless jukebox? It’s called TouchTunes, and it’s already in bars and restaurants across the country. The device that brings life to wireless dead spots in large stores? It will hit the marketplace soon.

And the wireless suitcase that tells you where you’ve put it? Well, that’s just a pipe dream, at least for now. Other gee-whiz future technologies on display include a car that captures images and alerts drivers if the vehicle is hit while parked.

Brian Higgins, Verizon’s executive director for LTE ecosystem development, said such exhibits are meant to “inspire companies to think about what’s possible’’ on the new network. “Things that you don’t typically see in a Verizon store, that’s what we spend the majority of our time demonstrating,’’ Higgins said.

The center, on Verizon’s Waltham campus, includes a new structure with 20,000 square feet of showroom space and 40,000 square feet of offices on two floors. It also incorporates 135,000 square feet of lab space in buildings that were renovated beginning in 2009 and were built to foster cooperation between Verizon and its partners.

For example, if a company wanted to create a camera that connects to Verizon’s network, that company could work here with Verizon engineers to build the product and bring it to market.

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