ip.access, a developer of femtocell and picocell solutions, has developed new 3G Home Routing technology that connects 3G phones into a home network via its Oyster 3G femtocell.

3G Home Routing uses the Oyster 3G to provide a real-time "bridge" between the user's home network and any 3G handset, enabling a new generation of entertainment and communications applications for consumers, and allowing them to use their mobile phone in new and exciting ways at home.

Using a femtocell, a 3G phone can connect directly to a home network, enabling new applications such as streaming live video from a home media server to the handset, using the phone to browse the music on the home server and select tracks to play, or displaying a slideshow of phone photos on the TV.

"Femtocells can open up these applications to any 3G handset quickly and easily, putting your mobile phone at the heart of your connected home," said ip.access VP of Marketing, Dr. Andy Tiller.  "Our femtocell-powered 3G Routing technology means there's no need to have a special WiFi-enabled phone, and you don't have to spend time configuring any settings either."

Because all the data traffic is routed locally over the femtocell, the end-user benefits from full HSDPA data rates for all their connected home applications.  3G Home Routing removes the delay associated with carrying data traffic from the phone over the mobile operator's core network and back, which also saves costs for the operator.

"Femtocells can offer consumers more than just better 3G coverage at home," said Tiller.  "We believe that connected home applications and other ‘femtozone' services will become compelling reasons for consumers to adopt femtocells."

Next2Friends, the mobile social media platform, has announced the launch of version 1.0 of its ‘Live' application. Designed to provide 'true real-time streaming' from mobile devices to the mobile and static web, the development is set to eliminate pointless delays in mobile video streaming technology.

Inclusions such as one click broadcasting are claimed to simplify and speed up the use of the application, while both public (cross network) and private (friends only) streaming options provide 'easy yet intelligent' quick methods for sharing live streams according to content and preference. Once videos are on the Next2Friends network, sharing them further by embedding them into third party sites, services and blogs is said to be simple. Next2Friends Live has a 15-30 Frames per Second (FPS) speed and fully supports GPRS, 3G, 3.5G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

This technical achievement results in the ability for live video to be streamed from mobile device to web with, at most, a 0.2 second delay under optimal conditions. Previously unachievable in the industry, where even optimal conditions result in anything from a 2 to 30 second delay, Next2Friends' true live streaming enables users to capture and share life as it happens.  Built from the ground up to be both mobile-centric and mobile aware, the application also delivers both manual and automatic video quality selection to guarantee that optimal streaming results are achieved independent of location, carrier or connection speeds.  

"When designing an application of this complexity, it's often a challenge to remain a purist about what you're trying to achieve;" commented Anthony Nystrom, CTO of Next2Friends. "We stuck to our original aim of providing a real time, real life experience for our users with no degradation or delay and by developing all the technology in-house, we've delivered exactly that."

Next2Friends' patent-pending technology is a proprietary, unique solution. With R&D based on three continents, the Next2Friends technical team is comprised of world class software developers individually selected for their particular expertise in different mobile and internet platforms. This team have worked together on a number of different projects over the last decade, and are today focused on honing and perfecting the Next2Friends suite of applications and features.

fring has released the fringAPI, claimed to bring 'fringsters' a potentially unlimited selection of mobile games, tools, services and communities to enrich their mobile-internet experience.

The fringAPI enables third-party web-developers using only XML and JavaScript know-how to bring the fring community new mobile applications and mobile versions of web-based applications, providing access to fring client GUI with web browser extensions and basic phone functions. Integrated within fring, all new applications are enriched with fring's built-in presence indicators including real-time awareness of users' presence (online, away, offline, or in a call). Users will benefit from a rich, augmented experience combining a selection of new mobile applications with fring's service featuring VoIP talk, multi-community chat, online presence, file transfer, 3G-Wi-Fi auto-roaming and more interaction between fring users (fringsters) and their online buddies.

"We built the fring community by harnessing and bringing our users the benefits of internet communication & experience, within the challenging mobile environment. By opening the fringAPI, we are now sharing our "mobile-internet key" to let talented developers worldwide add-on any flavor of mobile internet fun and functionality for our users to enjoy." Explained Alex Nerst, Co-Founder and CTO of fring. "We're looking forward to the ride, welcoming the worldwide pool of talented developers to join us in creating the best and broadest selection of mobile internet applications via fring."

Any fringAdd-on application is automatically integrated into the fring interface free of charge with strict privacy control, and becomes widely accessible to fringsters on hundreds of devices across platforms, service providers and communities. The fringAPI is currently available for fring clients for Nokia S60 v9.2 and additional devices and platforms will be added in the coming weeks.

The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, and the NGMN Alliance, the group focused on the evolution to the next generation of mobile networks, have agreed to cooperate to help steer the development of mobile broadband communications to give customers a 'compelling mobile broadband experience'.

The two groups will cooperate to ensure that users of next generation mobile networks, such as those based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, will be able to roam on to existing GSM, W-CDMA and HSPA networks, which now cover more than 80% of the world's population. The GSMA and the NGMN Alliance will also develop the commercial frameworks and technical platforms necessary to ensure that all mobile services will be able to travel across both next generation networks and existing networks based on the GSM family of technologies.

The two have also agreed to co-operate in other essential areas related to the development of next generation mobile broadband services, such as intellectual property rights and spectrum requirements.

"Now is the time for the mobile operator community to bring together all the pieces that are needed to ensure that our industry can meet the rapidly rising global demand for mobile broadband services in the decade beyond 2010," said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer of the GSMA. "This agreement with the NGMN Alliance will help ensure that users of the mobile broadband networks of the future will enjoy all the benefits, such as economies of scale, global roaming and interoperability, inherent in the GSM ecosystem today."

"This cooperation will certainly help to steer the future of mobile broadband and will support the rapid deployment of NGMN technologies," said Dr. Peter Meissner, Operating Officer of the NGMN Alliance. "Our agreement is not just about liaison, it is project driven and we have clearly identified those areas where the mobile industry needs to cooperate. We are happy to share our milestone achievements in technology evaluation, trials, IPR and spectrum."

Anite, a specialist in testing technology for the wireless industry, has announced that its LTE test solution, the first in a portfolio of LTE test systems being jointly developed with Agilent Technologies, will be used by Freescale Semiconductor for the advanced demonstration of its LTE implementation. The demonstration will take place at the Freescale Technology Forum in Orlando, Florida, on 16- 19 June, 2008.

The demonstration will show High Definition video being streamed to Freescale's LTE mobile chipset using LTE protocols, with Anite's Development test system simulating the LTE network. During the demonstration, the chipset decodes the LTE protocol, enabling the HD video to be played. The demonstration is significant as it shows LTE technology working with the type of intensive high-bandwidth application that users will demand.

"Anite's participation in Freescale's LTE demonstration at this year's Technology Forum, is a testament to its highly collaborative approach and sustained ability to provide state of the art testing solutions for early development testing of LTE." said Kevin Traylor, Director of Cellular Products Group, R&D, Freescale.  "The ability to independently verify our designs is an essential element in the ongoing development of LTE."

The demonstration at the Freescale Technology Forum also showcases Anite's Development Toolset (DT). DT is a solution that provides a fully integrated development environment enabling the creation of the LTE Protocol layers for comprehensive testing at every stage of product development, whether for protocol, baseband, or RF implementations. Using DT, developers have full control in creating, amending and reusing tests, which can provide consistency across each of these different stages of product development and realize significant cost savings.

"The pace of LTE user equipment development is a testament to the commitment and focus of the industry," said Dan Oosthuizen, Managing Director, Anite. "In particular, the demand from pioneering companies like Freescale for the ability to demonstrate and test their designs shows the acceleration towards commercially-viable solutions.

"What is distinctive about the early days of a new technology like LTE, is that user equipment developers such as Freescale can't independently verify their designs without working with a test solution partner. This close collaboration involves alignment of standards, advance test tools and provision of early test capability. In effect, through these relationships, we are pioneering the eco-system needed to make LTE happen."

Palringo, a messaging service that extends to mobile devices all the functionality of PC-based instant messaging services, has released its software client for BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry users can now chat using voice and picture messages as well as traditional text.  Further, they can do so with other users of eight popular PC-based IM services (including AOL's AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk) through one interface.  Equally importantly, they can do so whether sitting at a computer, tapping with a smartphone or Pocket PC stylus, or using a Blackberry.

Palringo combines a user's contacts from all services into a single, presence-aware list, eliminating the need to continually switch between multiple IM tools.  In addition, Palringo offers walkie-talkie style vocal instant messaging, the real-time text functionality of IM, and the ability to share pictures – all within the context of one ‘threaded' discussion.

u-blox, the Swiss provider of GPS technology, today announced the launch of a miniature GPS module designed for high volume, mass-market applications that require fast, accurate positioning at a low cost.

The NEO-5Q is said to be a versatile, stand-alone GPS module that combines an extensive array of features with flexible connectivity options in a miniature 12 x 16 x 2.4 mm package. Its ROM-based architecture does not require a costly external Flash EPROM, making the NEO-5Q ideal for high-volume consumer products with strict cost and size constraints.

Based on u-blox' fifth generation positioning engine, u-blox 5, the module boasts an acquisition performance of one second and an engine with 50 channels and over one million correlators capable of simultaneously tracking GPS and GALILEO signals.

"The NEO-5Q' compact and versatile architecture was specifically designed to fit the stringent requirements of handheld applications," said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. "It brings all the benefits of the u-blox 5 positioning engine to our smallest form factor, offering customers high performance at low cost, a dream combination for compact, battery-operated products," added Mr. Seiler.

The NEO-5Q GPS module features u-blox' new KickStart ultra-fast weak signal acquisition technology that boosts acquisition performance, ensuring fast positioning regardless of signal positions and antenna size.

"To keep product sizes small, consumer device manufacturers strive to integrate compact components, including the antenna. Small antennas, in turn, often result in deteriorated GPS performance, causing the slow, inaccurate positioning typical of many handheld consumer products operating in difficult signal environments such as busy urban areas. The NEO-5Q with KickStart enables device manufacturers to keep product sizes small without compromising on GPS performance," explains Thomas Nigg, Vice President Product Marketing at u-blox.

The module's Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) enables an external serial E2PROM to store unlimited start-up configuration settings, providing an innovative alternative to the traditional boot-time configuration pins. Additionally, the module's ease of integration enables fast times-to-market for a wide range of consumer and industrial applications.

Private Mobile Networks, the UK provider of private GSM network technology, today announced that Kemira Water has successfully integrated a private mobile network with its SCADA (Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition) control system at its Bradford facility.  The solution ensures rapid notification of plant alarm conditions to appropriate onsite staff, irrespective of their location, via a text message to their mobile phone.

Since the private network does not carry public traffic, messages are delivered virtually instantaneously.  Furthermore, there are no charges, either for text messages or for internal phone calls between staff using standard mobile phones.  Dave Goult, Operations Manager commented, "PMN came and gave us an impressive demonstration of their capabilities onsite.  Although we had some initial teething problems, these were ironed out.  The solution has delivered on its promise and allowed us to achieve our goal."

Kemira Water operates four production lines at its Bradford facility, manufacturing polymers used in municipal and industrial water treatment processes.  The production lines are, essentially, fully automated and run by a SCADA (Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition) industrial control system.  The system raises various alarm states should operator intervention be required.  In the event of a serious issue occurring, the control system is quite capable of shutting down a production line automatically.

As the production lines look after themselves most of the time, the company sought a more flexible approach to deploying the staff responsible for responding to any alarm states, freeing them from the confines of the control room to carry out other duties on-site. Naturally, health and safety issues are paramount and any solution had to conform to stringent requirements.

Kemira Bradford's Operations Manager, Dave Goult, had previously investigated using their existing mobile network operator to carry the text messages.  However, this proved expensive, at up to £800 per month, and the sometimes long delay between an alarm being raised by the control system and being received by personnel on the mobile meant the solution was initially deemed unacceptable.

A private mobile network was installed with sufficient BTS (base transceiver station) units to provide full coverage of the site.  The PMN solution integrates with the SCADA control system to receive and transmit text messages via SMS and with the company's normal telephone system, enabling external calls to be made from a mobile phone at the company's landline tariff when on site.  Staff are required to reply to alarm messages within a defined time period, otherwise the alarm notification is cascaded down a predefined list of staff until a response is received.

Motorola has announced that its WiMAX WAP 25400 base station has achieved the WiMAX Forum Certified seal of approval by passing required interoperability and conformance tests as outlined by the WiMAX Forum. The achievement, announced by the WiMAX Forum at its Global Congress event in Amsterdam, places Motorola among the first companies to have its 2.5GHz WiMAX products earn this new stamp of approval for completing tests necessary to insure operational and feature compliance for 2.5 GHz certification.

Through its certification program, the WiMAX Forum provides operators with the assurance the products that have passed rigorous testing will have the ability to interoperate with other vendors' WiMAX access points and devices that have passed the same certification process. This is an important step by the WiMAX Forum toward enhancing the ecosystem and advancing the widespread adoption of the WiMAX 802.16e standard around the world.

"Motorola was one of the early advocates for WiMAX 802.16e because we knew the technology has the bandwidth to cost effectively deliver the multimedia experiences people want, when, where and how they want it, at a fraction of the cost of 3G technologies," said Fred Wright, senior vice president, cellular networks and WiMAX, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility. "Today, we have a leadership position in the number of contracts for commercial systems worldwide and in being among the first to have an access point for 2.5 GHz designated as WiMAX Forum Certified."

"The WiMAX Forum would like to thank Motorola and the other member companies that have worked so hard to achieve today's milestone and enabling the Forum to continue to reach critical objectives with the ongoing certification of Mobile WiMAX equipment," said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum, during a press conference at the WiMAX Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam. "Motorola has played an important role in WiMAX Forum's success of driving market momentum by enabling us to move closer to delivering on our plan to certify more than 100 Mobile WiMAX products in 2008. Our six independent WiMAX Forum certification labs are on now online to manage the anticipated increase of products to be submitted for certification."

Motorola's WiMAX WAP 25400 with the WMX2.5 software was certified at the WiMAX Forum's certification testing laboratory, AT4 wireless, in Malaga, Spain. The WiMAX WAP 25400 is among a portfolio of access points and devices designed by Motorola to meet a variety of operators' needs for fixed, nomadic and full mobility WiMAX service.

Juniper Research has forecast that 41.5bn mobile financial service transactions will be made by the end of 2011.  According to Juniper, the key drivers for these transactions will be the high speed of adoption by consumers of new mobile finance facilities – particularly those currently without access to any form of banking.  Bespoke payment applications for remittance purposes will also be popular but issues around legislation must still be overcome.

The new study reports that the desire from all sections of the MFS (Mobile Financial Services) ecosystem to deliver intelligent applications and services has created an atmosphere that is both creative and pragmatic. It also found that there is a strong desire from the MFS sector for cooperation in order to create non silo services that work together.

The Great Unbanked

The new research identified two exciting sectors:
–    The millions of mobile phone users in developing countries who do not currently hold bank accounts or credit cards and would like access to accessible banking services at the right price.
–    The millions of mobile phone users in developed countries who cannot currently access financial services due to age i.e. 13-18 year olds.

Legislation issues
The report forecasts that in-between 2007 and 2011, we will see an additional 517m global mobile phone users of MFS, although the report does warn that a number of issues still need to be overcome.  One issue particularly for new entrants is that of legislation.

Most developed world economies have strict rules and regulation governing the financial industry, to protect both the consumer and the retailer.  It can be a costly exercise, in both time and money, to design and implement an alternative MFS payment scheme that adheres to such regulation, particularly the case with mobile fund transfers and remittances potentially offering an easy route to money laundering around the world.

Other key report findings are said to  include:
–    612m mobile phone users generating over $587bn worth of financial transactions by 2011
–    Annual global mobile banking transactions will rise from 2.7bn in 2007 to 37bn by 2011
–    The Far East & China region forecast to embrace mobile finance the most, with over 250m total mobile phone users to use MFS by 2011

Juniper Research illustrates the current and near-future status of the mobile financial services market with market forecasts, interviews, case studies and analysis from representatives of some of the leading organisations in the burgeoning mobile financial services industry.