Starhome, a provider of roaming services and converged solutions, is part of a consortium that has completed integration of an "extended home" remote control platform.

As part of the Celtic EnComPAs2 (Enabling Community Communications – Platforms and Applications phase 2) project, Starhome is developing a concept for mobile services for the "extended home." This environment includes the home, the car and other remote sites acting as a virtual home environment, enabling remote access to home content such as videos, photos, music and other media.

Celtic is a European R&D programme that initiates and runs privately and publicly funded Information and Communication Technology (ICT)/telecommunications R&D projects. EnComPAs2 is being led by Telefonica I+D. Consortium members include Acciona Infraestructuras and Ikerlan from Spain, and TNO ICT from the Netherlands.

The Starhome concept is said to link mobile networks and home networks for the first time, enabling mobile operators to provide value added services for the home. The implementation combines the Next Generation Network architecture, which consists of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and a home residential gateway. Starhome is providing the IMS connectivity for the project, including mobile services such as smart call routing between GSM/UMTS and Wi-Fi, depending on the user location.

Shai Ophir, Starhome's Technology Specialist, believes that Starhome's concept has the potential to revolutionise the convergence market. "Completing integration was an important step for Starhome and our consortium partners in the development of this cutting-edge technology. This project has the potential to significantly enhance the mobile landscape by both improving the home service environment and extending its reach.

"One exciting prototype being developed by Starhome for this project will converge voice and messaging between car and mobile. The mobile network will capture an SMS being sent to a mobile subscriber who is driving, for example, and will convert the message into a voice call in order to increase driving safety," said Ophir.

International mobile payments specialist, Dialogue Communications, has launche its mobile billing services in Norway and Sweden to allow consumers to buy products and services over the mobile internet. Norway and Sweden are two of the most highly saturated mobile markets in the world and are said to represent a significant opportunity for Dialogue and mobile internet shops. 

Dialogue is expanding its global reach and offering cross network mobile payment services to all vendors selling products and services over the mobile web in Norway and Sweden. The WAP billing solution is currently available for one-off purchases, and set to extend to subscription services in Quarter 1 2009.

Norway and Sweden have a combined population of 14m and mobile penetration is predicted to reach an estimated 122.5% by 2010.

Guiom Peersman, managing director at Dialogue Communications explains: "Sweden and Norway both have thriving mobile markets at present and many of our customers have expressed a desire to move into the Scandinavian region, where large numbers of mobile users are embracing the mobile internet, just as the UK market has. We are delighted to be able to provide our customers with an easy to use billing solution, to allow them to capitalise on this multi-million pound market."

"We are always looking to expand our international capabilities and by launching our services in parts of Scandinavia, it will enable us to reach a new market and grow the business further."

Dialogue has designed its mobile payment framework, which can be integrated into its Mobile Site Builder tool, in both Swedish and Norwegian.  The framework allows customers to design their own mobile internet sites and charge customers directly to their mobile phone bill.

Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), the 50:50 joint venture formed by 3UK and T-Mobile UK to manage the integration of both operators' 3G radio access networks (RAN), has awarded Ericsson a four-year managed services contract for the operation and maintenance of the consolidated network.

T-Mobile and 3 formed their infrastructure sharing agreement in January 2008 with the aim of creating the UK's most extensive 3G network by 2010. The network collaboration will deliver close to complete nationwide population coverage for 3G services and 'significantly improve' in-building signal strength. The agreement will also deliver substantial cost savings as well as environmental benefits, including the decommissioning of an estimated 5,000 cell sites.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ericsson has responsibility for the operation and performance management of both parent companies' 3G networks and T-Mobile's 2G RAN infrastructure. The four year contract will enable MBNL to control operational expenses and deliver high service levels at a time when the 3G network consolidation is moving into the mass deployment phase.

The first integrated cell site was commissioned in early February 2008. Since then MBNL has concluded a pilot in the Leeds and Bradford area which successfully validated the network sharing technology and is now engaged in consolidating the radio access networks across the UK.

Around 80 employees from T-Mobile have been transferred to Ericsson, further strengthening its existing UK managed services capability. In the UK, Ericsson holds separate managed services contracts with T-Mobile and 3.

Emin Gurdenli, Chief Technology Officer for T-Mobile UK, says: "The appointment of Ericsson is another significant step towards realizing our commitment to create and operate the UK's most extensive 3G network. Partnering with a proven and progressive services organization reinforces our intent to deliver superior, high-speed mobile data services to customers across the UK."

Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson UK, says: "We are delighted and proud to be given the responsibility of operating the radio access network for MBNL. This is an extremely exciting and bold project and we are entirely committed to playing our part in achieving success for MBNL's parent companies."

Graham Baxter, CTO, 3 UK, says: "The deployment of our consolidated mobile broadband network is advancing rapidly. Having Ericsson as a trusted partner operating the access network will be an important contribution to our overall goals of providing a reliable and high performance service."

The contract with Ericsson is the latest of a number of key supplier agreements awarded by MBNL in recent months for the provision of 3G radio network infrastructure and a five-year managed service contract for the supply of high-speed Ethernet connections to 7,500 cell sites.

Zynetix, the specialist mobile infrastructure manufacturer, has today announced the completion of a Management Buy Out of the company in a deal said to be designed to enable the business to continue to build on its existing growth and become a major provider of specialist mobile infrastructure for maritime, fixed-mobile convergence, regional infill and military GSM applications.

The company will continue to be led by its existing management team of co-founders Ian Taylor and Andy Odgers who will continue in their roles of CEO and CTO respectively.  Martin Wren-Hilton returns to the company as CSO having spent the previous two years as Head of Mobile Strategy at Carphone Warehouse.  The management team has been further strengthened by the promotion of Darryn Trowell to Portfolio Director.

Commenting on the deal, Ian Taylor said "This deal represents an exciting new chapter in the history of Zynetix. I'm proud of our achievements to date and look forward to building on those successes by maintaining our technical edge in the competitive market in which we operate."

Andy Odgers added: "Zynetix has an excellent reputation with its customers and partners and this deal will enable us to strengthen all aspects of our business.  In just five years we've grown Zynetix from a start-up to the position where we're now a recognised leader in the field of specialist GSM infrastructure."

Martin Wren-Hilton, who was previously a co-founder of Zynetix along with Andy and Ian commented "I'm delighted to be returning to Zynetix and joining the new management team.  The company has developed an impressive portfolio of GSM infrastructure products and this deal underlines the commitment of the co-founders as we continue to build on the foundations we laid five years ago."

The new board of directors consists of Andy Odgers, Ian Taylor and Martin Wren-Hilton.

Cellcrypt, a supplier of voice security solutions, has announced the release of Cellcrypt Mobile v4.0, which provides end-to-end voice encryption on Nokia Smartphones and, for the first time, on a range of Windows Mobile devices.

"It is common for organisations and individuals to protect their valuable computer data using encryption technologies; but by and large sensitive voice conversations are only lightly protected and vulnerable to eavesdropping," says Lauri Monroy, Product Manager at Cellcrypt.

"Use of Cellcrypt Mobile provides the confidence that phone calls, whether in the mobile or office environment, at home or overseas, within or between departments and with partners, suppliers and friends, are all protected end-to-end. The addition of Windows Mobile to Cellcrypt's list of supported operating systems allows customers far more flexibility in their choice of existing and new handsets," adds Monroy.

Cellcrypt Mobile 4.0 is claimed to deliver a radical change in the way sensitive conversations are protected on mobile phones. Cellcrypt Mobile is a next generation software solution that is easy to download and run on standard mobile phones and uses Voice over IP (VOIP) to deliver secure phone calls with 'unparalleled voice quality', low voice delays (latency), global coverage and international call capability across 3G or GPRS mobile networks and Wifi.

Cellcrypt uses the same encryption technologies to protect voice communications that are used to protect laptops, corporate data and internet banking transactions.

Cellcrypt is starting certification to the FIPS 140-2 standard approved by the US National Institute of Standard (NIST) and is currently being evaluated for the UK government CCT Mark.

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC, claimed to be the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, has announced the launch of 3G networks in Chelyabinsk and Irkutsk, bringing the total count of cities to ten.

Chelyabinsk and Norilsk are the latest additions to the expanding geography of MTS' 3G networks across the Russian regions. MTS launched the first pan-regional 3G network in Russia in May 2008 in St. Petersburg followed by Sochi, Yekaterinburg and Kazan. In August 2008, MTS expanded its 3G network to Nizhniy Novgorod. In September 2008, the Company brought next-generation networks to Novosibirsk and Norilsk, the two large industrial centers in Siberia, and Vladivostok, the largest city in the Russian Far East.

"We are seeing very strong demand for data services in the regions where 3G networks were launched," noted Mr. Aleksander Popovskiy, Head of MTS Russia. "For example, in Yekaterinburg we saw mobile Internet traffic grow more than 30% in three months following the launch of the network. We believe that the residents of Chelyabinsk and Irkutsk will also become avid users of our services available on our 3G network."

MTS intends to launch 3G networks in at least 14 cities during 2008 and in up to 40 cities in Russia through 2009. The Company also holds 3G licenses in Uzbekistan and Armenia, where the networks are scheduled for launch in 2009.

Development of 3G networks is a cornerstone of MTS' strategy to provide mobile broadband in the CIS. With relatively low levels of fixed-line penetration and historic underinvestment in infrastructure throughout the markets of operation, MTS says it views its networks as an ideal vehicle to meet the growing broadband Internet needs of subscribers through attractive data products and services.

On Demand Group, a subsidiary of on-demand television lspecialist SeaChange International, has extended its content aggregation and management services to the growing European, Middle East and Africa mobile video market with the acquisition of Mobix Interactive. 

Mobix is a provider of mobile video and TV services to some of the region's largest carriers, including O2 and 3 in the U.K. and Vodacom in South Africa.  Using its proprietary mobile video and TV platform, Adrenalin, and core media services, Mobix enables the deployment of premium and ad-enabled mobile video and TV services.

ODG delivers end-to-end on-demand service creation, content aggregation and management for television companies including Virgin Media, Telekom Austria, OTE and TTNET, while Mobix's managed service approach brings al business model within the mobile media industry. The acquisition agreement, completed last week, is said to make ODG the only full-service partner to enable managed network owners to tap into both markets.  Further, ODG intends to bring to mobile carriers its content rights management, distribution and retail marketing capabilities, which are reflected by the company's large stable of relationships with top-tier studios such as Paramount, NBC Universal and Warner Bros., as well as major record labels, television networks and regional content producers.

ODG's London-based, full service television centre and European headquarters will integrate Mobix's nearby operations and workforce.  ODG managing director and SeaChange senior vice president Tony Kelly is heading the strategic expansion.   

"SeaChange, ODG and Mobix customers are setting their paths to supply high-quality video experiences ubiquitously and we've responded with the perfect dovetailing of complementary solutions and expertise from a single partner to capture the new markets," said Kelly.  "We're particularly excited about the proven and unique advantage that Mobix technologies provide in integrated advertising, and the seamless support of hundreds of handset models and disparate mobile media formats, thereby ensuring a deep and rich selection of on-demand content for any subscriber."

Kelly added, "The overall positive synergies of the companies' products and services are extensive, putting ODG in a uniquely advantageous competitive position to support its customers across video platforms."

Damian Mulcock, CEO of Mobix Interactive, said, "I am very excited by the future and the prospect of working within SeaChange and ODG, as I firmly believe that three-screen convergence is now upon us and is a key requirement for all of our customers. It's a compelling solution for consumers to interact seamlessly across a number of environments which is why we believe so strongly in the combination."

Nimbuzz, the mobile Instant Messaging, (geo) presence and VoIP provider, has launched into the Apple iPhone App Store. The free application lets users call, chat and message, for free, with their friends on virtually all major instant messaging communities and social networks, including Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, Facebook, MySpace, AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, and more.

Specifically for the needs of iPhone users, this will be the first complete messaging product available with landscape mode chat, IM buddy calling (including Yahoo!), and regional social network support.
 
Users turn the product on its side to use a wide keyboard for fast and easy typing. Furthermore, Nimbuzz is the first product to offer IM buddy calling over Wifi to Yahoo! Messenger as well as Google Talk, Skype, and Windows Live Messenger.
 
Nimbuzz supports chat for local social networks, such as StudiVZ, the biggest German speaking social network, Hyves for The Netherlands, and Gadu-Gadu in Poland.
 
Nimbuzz is a lifestyle application, designed to meet any communication need and is the only chat application to offer landscape chat and IM buddy calling. The centralized contact list aggregates contacts of the most popular social and IM networks, and offers superior VoIP call quality over Wifi.
 
Other key updates include Personal Message allowing users to broadcast real-time status updates to all contacts, presence information to see who is online and where, and emoticons.