Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled a suite of new APIs that it hopes will accelerate the creation of broadband services for both retail and enterprise customers.

The France-based vendor has launched nine “New Conversation” APIs that aim to drive services such as high definition voice and video, audio/video conferencing, interactive voice, messaging and call control.

A-L’s Sandip Mukerjee, president of advanced communications, chose to highlight the impact it could have on operators providing 4G LTE.

“The [New Conversation APIs] enable service providers to fast-track 4G innovation – turning IMS into a real engine for the rapid creation of new services,” he said.

“We make it easy to access the rich features supported by service providers and thereby attract more developers.

“New applications using IMS-based APIs can be built very quickly, in turn allowing the rapid introduction of more services, and a growth in revenue that comes from our customers being able to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.”

The launch is the latest development in A-L’s strategy to get into the app field.

In August, the company unveiled a new consulting and professional services practice based APIs.

“A-L can offer their core customer base a new way to create and monetize innovative applications and recoup their investment in IMS infrastructure,” said Yankee Group’s Brian Partridge.

“In an age of increasing OTT competition, service providers are eager to find innovative ways to add value to the internet ecosystem and this solution is clearly a step in the right direction.”