Moovera Networks, a developer of fixed and mobile wireless communications systems, has announced that Swebus Express AB – the dominant long-distance express bus service in Sweden – has selected the Moovbox M Series Mobile Broadband Gateway to deliver Internet connectivity on its fleet of over eighty buses that serve over two million passengers each year.

The mobile Wi-Fi hotspot deployment, which is said to be the largest of its kind in Scandinavia, will include routes with stops throughout southern and central Sweden as well as neighboring Norway and Denmark. Swebus Express, a subsidiary of Concordia Bus Nordic AB, will also utilize the Moovbox to connect ticket machines on each bus to the Internet, and provide GPS-based fleet location monitoring.

"Increased competition in the public transport sector has led Swebus to examine ways in which we can differentiate ourselves from other operators," said Joakim Palmkvist, Managing Director of Swebus Express. "Providing Internet connectivity to our entire fleet introduces a technology platform on which we can build new and innovative services that not only benefit our passengers but also improve the way our fleet operates. We chose the Moovbox from Moovera primarily as it offered the widest range of features at the most cost-effective price point."

The Moovbox M Series delivers Internet access on the Swebus Express vehicles at speeds up to 7.2 Mbps by creating a bridge between the coach and a next-generation 3G HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) cellular broadband network from Hutchinson 3. In addition to providing public Wi-Fi hotspot access, the Moovbox offers Ethernet connectivity for in-bus systems such as CCTV and telematics data, and includes built-in GPS for real-time fleet tracking. The deployment was designed and managed by Network Expertise AB of Stockholm, Moovera's Channel Partner in Sweden.

"We're delighted to have been selected by Swebus Express for this landmark roll out of in-vehicle Internet," said Jim Baker, Moovera CEO and founder. "Such a major commitment to this technology from Sweden's largest player is clear evidence that public transport is the new major market for Wi-Fi hotspots and the ancillary services that in-bus Internet connectivity enables."

Ericsson has become partner of choice for the integration of HSPA mobile broadband modules into Toshiba's business laptop range in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Thomas Teckentrup, General Manager Toshiba Computer Systems Division Europe, commented: "Toshiba and Ericsson complement each other very well. While Toshiba has a strong position in the business laptop market, Ericsson has a lot of experience in the mobile broadband business. Through this partnership, we will create products that are greatly beneficial to our customers, assisting them in every aspect of their business lives."

"With the integration of our Mobile Broadband Module into Toshiba's business laptops we are supporting Toshiba's vision of offering real mobile broadband connectivity to business users" Mats Norin, Vice President Mobile Broadband Modules, Ericsson, says.

Users of Toshiba business laptops will benefit from Ericsson's latest wireless broadband technologies (HSPA) with modules allowing data rates of up to 7.2 Mbps in the downlink and up to 2.0 Mbps in the uplink. The module also has a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, to be used together with positioning applications. Toshiba plans to release first laptops equipped with Ericsson's Mobile Broadband Modules in second half of 2008.

A new analysis of the mobile payments opportunity forecasts that the gross transaction value of payments made via mobile phone for digital goods (such as music, tickets and games) and physical goods (typically gifts and books) will exceed $300bn globally by 2013.  

A region by region analysis by Juniper Research is said to have found that there is a significant and immediate opportunity for mobile payment services, systems, software and supporting services to underpin the processing of this value of payment transactions by 2013.  With applications and service case studies, the study explores how the mobile phone is developing into a payment tool that will be used by more and more people, more and more often in future.

Report author Howard Wilcox noted: "Merchants in North America and Western Europe are just starting to realise the potential of a mobile web presence as a fourth channel to market.   Retailers should be evaluating the benefits of the mobile web, and be mindful of the success of regular ecommerce sites in generating sales.   They need to move quickly to exploit the opportunity presented, and ensure that they maintain ease of use for their customers who are already familiar with web shopping from their PCs."

Highlights from the report include:

• Global annual gross transaction value will grow over 5 times by 2013
• The ticketing segment will be driven by consumer usage on rail, air and bus networks as well as sports and entertainment events This will represent over 40% of the global transaction value by 2013
• The top 2 regions (Far East and W. Europe) will represent over 60% of the $300bn p.a. global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2013 for digital and physical goods

Western Europe is currently dominated by digital goods and services sold via SMS, whereas the Far East & China region (specifically Japan) is already well established in physical goods sales over the mobile web, and has been for a number of years.

The report provides six year regional forecasts of mobile payments for digital & physical goods, providing data on subscriber take-up, transaction sizes and volumes as well as detailed case studies from companies pioneering in this market. Juniper Research interviewed 37 senior executives across a wide range of vendors and operators.

Nokia has announced that Warner Music Group will make its catalog of artists available through Nokia Music Stores around the world, as well as through Comes With Music service.
 
"Warner Music Group has been a pioneer in developing new digital music business models and we are very pleased to have them supporting both the Nokia Music Store and Comes With Music," said Tero Ojanperä, executive vice president and head of the Nokia Entertainment and Communities business. "Comes With Music enables people to access great content, provides artists to wider exposure with new and existing fans, and creates new revenue for all stakeholders."
 
"Nokia's Comes With Music service will be a significant step forward in the evolution of digital music. It's the first global initiative to fundamentally align the interests of music companies with telecommunications companies," said Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music Group's Chairman and CEO. "Through this innovative service and business model, all parties are equally driven to create the best and most comprehensive music offering designed to meet the ever-expanding consumer appetite for music and music-enabled devices."
 
Comes With Music is expected to launch in the second half of 2008 on a range of Nokia devices in selected territories.

Orange has unveiled a new global brand vision and campaign which is claimed to reflect the company's transformation into one of the world's leading providers of digital communications. The vision, expressed in the statement: "together we can do more", will be brought to life in the company's largest ever global integrated campaign to be launched across Orange's worldwide markets starting on the 5th July 2008 in the U.K.
 
The campaign, created for Orange by Publicis Groupe and executed by Fallon, will be rolled out in the UK on 5th July, followed by Switzerland, Poland, Romania, France, Slovakia, Spain, Africa and the Middle East in the following months.
 
"The Orange brand was originally developed for one technology in one market – mobile telephones in the U.K" says Caroline Mille, Senior Vice President, Brand and Communications. Orange.  "Today, just 14 years later, the brand now spans a range of technologies (internet, T.V content) and reaches consumers in 26 countries, covering very different cultures. Thanks to its global enterprise services, Orange also has operations in most markets around the world.  Since 2006 it has been the key brand of the France Telecom Group and now includes mobile, internet and TV services plus content associated with these three platforms. Despite this change, the brand has lost none of its strength, staying true to its original values which have become the values of the whole Group.  The new brand vision allows us to truly communicate everything that Orange now stands for".

A leading group of mobile operators have today unveiled a new initiative to create a blueprint and roadmap for opening up mobile functionality to encourage the development of exciting mobile applications without compromising customer security. The new initiative will be known as BONDI.

Supported by the OMTP members including 3 Group, AT&T, T-Mobile, Telenor, Telefonica, Telecom Italia and Vodafone, BONDI will provide a consistent and secure web services interface that can be used by all web developers across multiple device platforms. This will provide the opportunity for web developers to address a mass market of consumers and to drive the use of data services on mobile.

BONDI will harmonise the various open and proprietary ongoing initiatives and this cooperative work will minimise the potential for technology fragmentation in this exciting area. BONDI, under the OMTP umbrella, will contribute towards ongoing standardisation work to help create a new rich web experience for mobile while also ensuring an appropriate degree of protection that will maintain the current high level of trust by mobile phone users.

BONDI will expose key handset features to web developers to help them develop more function-rich, user friendly and relevant applications. The new handset software will be engineered in such a way as to prevent fraudulent and malicious activity through unauthorised access to functions or sensitive personal information.

Colibria, the provider of new generation mobile instant messaging (MIM) and Presence-enabled solutions, has announced the availability of its SIP IM Server. Designed to enable the convergence of voice, media and text based communication across mobile, fixed and converged networks in both IMS and pre-IMS networks, the product offering is said to include many of the features of Colibria's MIM solutions.
 
According to Colibria, the SIP IM Server is said to plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the concept of ‘rich communication', as set out in the Rich Communication Suite (RCS) initiative, becomes a reality for communication service providers (CSPs) and end-users alike. RCS is a joint effort of key telecom industry players to speed up the evolution of mobile phone communication towards ‘rich communication', including features such as a Presence-enabled address book, with the introduction of new IMS-based interoperable services.
 
Colibria's SIP IM Server provides a base upon which CSPs can introduce new service packages and deploy integrated communication services that not only greatly enhance the consumer experience, but also open up new revenue opportunities. For example, by deploying the Colibria SIP IM Server new ‘Communicator' solutions can be created which are access type independent and combine MIM, VoIP, file and video sharing within a single package.
 
Colibria's SIP IM Server supports Session Mode Messaging with MSRP (Message Session Relay Protocol) reducing signalling network load when transporting media whilst simultaneously increasing reliability and allowing tighter integration of services. In addition, a deferred messaging capability ensures that whilst the user is offline all messages are captured, with the option of waiting MIM alerts for the user via SMS.
 
As a fundamental element of the IMS framework, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is perceived to be an emerging market technology, but the potential for future growth is already being heralded, with analysis firm ABI Research predicting that SIP services will generate $150 billion in annual revenue by 20121.
 
Lars Kristian Roland, Chief Technology Officer at Colibria, commented, "Previously SIP IM products have originated from the fixed environment, bringing with them poor interworking across platforms. With our heritage and expertise in the mobile instant messaging market, we have developed a ‘best-in-breed' SIP IM solution that boasts SMS, MMS and IMPS interworking and ultimately enables CSPs to offer their customers a truly converged communication service."
 
The Colibria SIP IM Server complies with IETF, 3GPP and OMA standards, and has proven interoperability with major IMS vendors, where it performs as an IMS application server, and is ideally placed to be deployed in multi-vendor IMS and pre-IMS environments. It will interface to any SIP compliant 3rd party client enabling the CSP to choose the best solution to support their mobile and fixed terminal requirements. As a key component of the Colibria Evolve Solution, Colibria SIP IM Server can be deployed with Colibria's SIP Presence and XDM Server offerings, or with 3rd party Presence products.

Damovo UK, an enterprise ICT provider, and Red-M, a wireless professional services company, have today announced a partnership agreement designed to meet the growing demand for wireless connectivity across a number of large-scale and diverse business locations.

The partnership is said to combine Damovo's experience delivering and supporting enterprise-wide ICT deployments, with Red-M's expertise in designing and implementing large and complex wireless networks. It is claimed that this will enable both companies to offer leading-edge wireless solutions to large-scale UK companies in the private and public sector.

Damovo chose to work with Red-M due to its specialisation deploying a variety of wireless technologies, including in-building radio, 3G, WiFi and WiMAX.  Red-M has extensive expertise in WLAN surveys, whereby it audits existing or potential wireless coverage at a range of challenging and diverse locations – these include campus sites, airports, shopping centres and hospitals.  Based on the audit results, the most appropriate wireless solution can then be designed and implemented to meet the customer's specific needs. Damovo will also be offering Red-M's Radio Extension Service (RES), which provides organisations with a cost-effective wireless alternative to fibre-based data networks, allowing multiple buildings on a campus site to connect seamlessly.

Voice-over WiFi and location-based asset tracking are currently two of the main drivers for wireless infrastructure.  For example, in the healthcare sector hospitals are deploying WLANs as part of their asset tracking strategy, whereby valuable equipment and even patients are tagged with RFID chips.  This enables hospitals to locate their assets much more effectively and prevent the theft of expensive equipment or loss of blood samples.   Voice-over WiFi also has potential benefits for the healthcare sector, as it allows greater mobility for hospital staff.  By enabling staff to speak to each other wherever they are on campus, hospitals stand to significantly increase efficiency and productivity.

Nick Dean, Managing Director of Damovo UK, said: "We are seeing a considerable demand across many sectors for wireless solutions.  By partnering with specialist technology partners such as Red-M we can ensure that both existing and potential clients optimise their wireless capability.  Through having the appropriate infrastructure these organisations can then deliver business critical services to their employees and customers."

Steve Leach, CTO of Red-M, commented: "Working with Damovo is a key part of our channel strategy.  Damovo has enormous experience in the enterprise ICT arena, particularly in the public sector, and this partnership will open up a number of opportunities for both companies in the delivery of wireless infrastructure solutions."

Vodafone and MySpace have today announced the launch of an online global interactive platform, "Vodafone Music Reporter", which will expand Vodafone's music activity and continue to deliver a music experience to Vodafone customers. The "Vodafone Music Reporter" interactive profile, hosted on MySpace, builds on the collaboration of both companies which began in 2007 with the launch of MySpace on Vodafone mobile internet.

Vodafone will use the profile to share its existing music initiatives, including summer festivals such as Music Unlimited Cologne in Germany and Vodafone TBAs in the UK. The "Vodafone Music Reporter" profile will also feature user generated content to help create communities for all music fans initially in Germany, Spain and the UK with Italy to follow in the next few days.

Music fans in the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain can click and start sharing their music experiences, upload and download content including pictures and videos related to Vodafone Music Unlimited events. Members of the "Vodafone Music Reporter" community will be able to interact with their fellow users through a blog featuring regular updates on Vodafone Music Unlimited activities. 

iPoint-media, a video calling specialist and provider of interactive video application delivery platforms for web, 3G mobile and media, has announced the signing of a reseller agreement with Consort NT S.A., a French systems integrator. Consort NT will resell and integrate iPoint-media's Vitrage 3G video calling application platform in France with a focus on French mobile operators and value added service providers.

As the take up of 3G mobile phones increases, mobile operators and service providers are looking for new interactive services to offer their customers to generate new revenue streams. The Vitrage 3G video calling application platform enables the deployment of a wide range of interactive video services such as entertainment, interactive video chat, video dating, video call centres and participation TV. The platform's development environment speeds up time to market of new mobile video services and reduces operational expenses.

Marc Fesler, Consort NT's Director of Telecom Business Unit, commented: "There is a growing interest in 3G video calling services in the French mobile telecom market. iPoint-media's Vitrage platform will enable us to work with our customers to deliver the richest visual experience for French mobile subscribers. We believe there will be significant interest in the Vitrage solution and hope to generate significant revenues as a result."

Joseph Daniel, iPoint-media VP Sales & Marketing, commented: "We've seen a growing number of system integrators interested in offering our Vitrage 3G video calling application platform to telecom operators. With the rapidly increasing number of 3G mobile phones in France, we believe this market offers good potential for video calling services. We look forward to working closely with Consort NT as we believe that it is well positioned to finalise transactions with French operators and to deliver our leading 3G video calling solutions in France."

iPoint-media's Vitrage 3G video calling service platform offers a platform for delivering interactive video calling services. The company's platforms are currently used by leading mobile operators, service providers and broadcasters in Europe and Asia Pacific.