2-step nilpotent Lie groups of higher rank

We construct a family of simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie groups of higher rank such that every geodesic lies in a flat. These are as Riemannian manifolds irreducible and arise from real representations of compact Lie algebras. Moreover we show that groups of Heisenberg type do not even infinitesimally have higher rank. Received: 2 July 2001 / Revised version: 19 October 2001