First phase of products maximises service quality, availability to subscribers

3GSM World Congress
Agilent Technologies Inc. has today announced an initiative to provide the industry’s broadest range of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) service assurance solutions to help wireless service providers effectively manage quality of service (QoS) across the entire service life cycle. As part of this initiative, Agilent has introduced three innovative operations support system (OSS) and engineering test solutions. These products enable wireless service providers to reduce the cost of detecting and repairing network faults, and to maximise quality and availability of services to subscribers by collecting and analysing 3G network and service data.

Agilent’s broad range of OSS and communications test solutions provide visibility of UMTS network and service problems across the entire service lifecycle – from network planning, rollout and optimisation to ongoing service troubleshooting and quality management. These products speed diagnostics to improve mean time to repair (MTTR) and provide unique tools to manage services from a customer’s perspective. The solutions announced today augment the Agilent OSS Wireless Service Manager, introduced in October 2003, which provides a complete view of current service quality, including end-to-end views of UMTS networks and services. Wireless Service Manager can rapidly identify service-affecting problems, helping to prioritise problem resolution based on customer and business impact.

The new OSS and communications test solutions solve critical operational and business challenges, such as identifying problems in real time; locating and assessing network and service outages; understanding subscribers’ experiences with new 3G services; and monitoring the availability and performance of those services. These solutions enable service providers to leverage data from multiple sources to deliver end-to-end network and service assurance.

The three solutions announced today are the Agilent OSS Wireless QoS Manager for UMTS, Signaling Advisor Realtime, and Data Service Assurance.

Unique anytime, any network voice minutes at an unbeatable price

3GSM World Congress
3, the UK’s only video mobile operator, is set to shake-up the pre-paid market in the UK with the launch of ThreePay its first Pay-As-You-Go offer to customers on Monday 23rd February.

3 will offer Pay-As-You-Go customers the same great value price plans it already offers its contract customers, along with the unique same price, anytime, any network voice minutes.

ThreePay customers can chose from three top-up vouchers, all of which have a validity period of 30 days from activation:

Voucher*/Voice call minutes/Value allowance**     
£15 top-up/100 minutes/£1.50 
£25 top-up/500 minutes/£1.50 
£35 top-up/750 minutes/£1.50 

This combination will save money for most typical Pay-As-You-Go customers currently spending more than £15 per month with another network operator.

The launch of Pay-As-You-Go is in line with 3’s strategy of broadening its offer and introducing the maximum number of consumers to video-calling. With ThreePay, 3 is now addressing 65% of the UK mobile market instead of the 35% it had been reaching previously with just its contract proposition. ThreePay will initially be available on the Motorola A835.

3 today published a study reviewing the UK’s Pay-As-You-Go market; the study found that many Pay-As-You-Go customers are paying far more than they would on a contract.  Furthermore, due to the complicated tariffs and various charges, 43% of Pay-As-You-Go customers don’t know how much they are really paying for their calls.

Bob Fuller, Chief Executive of 3, said: “3’s challenge as the new-entrant is to shake up a stale and unimaginative market; to find ways of delivering better value to consumers.  We have put an end to the Pay-As-You-Go practice of charging punitive prices for cross-network, peak-time calls.  Our offer is fair, simple and excellent value. The calls cost the same no matter what time it is, or which network you’re calling.  What’s more, we are not punishing customers for paying up front; we are offering them the same value available to our contract customers.”

Gareth Jones, Chief Operating Officer of 3, said: “ThreePay offers excellent value to the customer. The likelihood is that if you are currently buying more than one £10 voucher a month will be better off on ThreePay. It is Pay-As-You-Go as it always should have been. No-one else in the industry has dared offer such good value to pre-paying customers. 3 has taken up that challenge and we’re proud to be leading the way with ThreePay.”

* Top-ups have a 30-day validity period.
** Value allowance is a monetary credit on top-up vouchers that may be used for any service including voice and video-calling.

3GSM World Congress
Visto Corporation, the leading provider of personal and corporate mobile messaging solutions to wireless operators for the broadest set of mobile device platforms, today announced Visto Mobile Personal Edition. Visto Mobile Personal Edition is a flexible set of custom-branded applications and services that let wireless operators provide subscribers with real-time, secure, remote access to their corporate and personal email, PIM and other files directly from their wireless devices.

With the Visto Mobile Personal Edition mobile operators can address a broad range of market segments that include individual subscribers, SOHO (Small Office, Home office), and mobile professionals working for medium and large enterprises. It can be integrated with the wireless operator’s networks so that operators can effectively manage billing, user provisioning and customer support.
Visto Mobile Personal Edition provides wireless access to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, Lotus Domino/Notes corporate email, calendar, address book and desktop- accessible files, as well as to multiple personal/Internet (POP3) mailboxes. Visto supports all popular wireless PDAs/phones using Palm OS (including the new Handspring/palmOne Treo 600), Windows Mobile (Pocket PC and Smartphone, including Windows Mobile 2003), and Symbian platforms, J2ME devices, as well as enhanced wireless phones with WAP browsers. Visto also supports IMAP and SyncML-based email clients on mobile devices.
“Visto Mobile Personal Edition provides the single most requested wireless data application – wireless email and PIM, and combines it in a complete solution for wireless operators to brand and deploy quickly,” said Brian Bogosian, chairman, president and CEO. “Visto Mobile Personal Edition is a sure-fire method for increasing average revenue per subscriber and for mitigating churn issues among wireless operators worldwide.”
“Wireless Operators are clearly targeting the mobile business user and prosumer for value-added services, including wireless email on the broadly used smartphones,” commented Lars Vestergaard, Research Manager, IDC European Wireless & Mobile Communications. “Visto Mobile Personal Edition matches those requirements exactly by offering a push email experience, along with wireless access to updated calendar and contacts, on all popular email platforms.”
Visto Mobile Personal Edition is a significant update to Visto’s highly successful WirelessInbox solution, deployed through nine wireless operators worldwide. Visto Mobile Personal Edition provides real time access to data, along with over the air synchronization between desktop and smart phones, giving subscribers a solution unmatched by any other wireless messaging solutions provider. For example, subscribers can look-up a colleague’s contact and incorporate it into the device’s address book without needing to synchronize the entire data set into the phone. Additionally, users are alerted to new email as it occurs, can access emails, contacts, calendar and view attachments, and respond to meeting requests. For maximum efficiency while off the wireless network, subscribers can also view emails, reply or compose new emails to be sent upon next connection, using their smart devices.

3GSM World Congress
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced their plans to enable BlackBerry connectivity on Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The first product to feature BlackBerry services will be the P900 Symbian OS smartphone later this year.

Sony Ericsson and RIM recently signed an agreement to enable Sony Ericsson’s Symbian OS based phones to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Web Client services for enterprises and individual users. The BlackBerry services infrastructure and platform has been approved and deployed by operators around the world and thousands of companies and government organisations have already installed BlackBerry Enterprise Server behind their firewall.
The combination of RIM’s ‘always on’ connectivity and push technology that automatically delivers emails and other data to and from a wireless device, makes BlackBerry an efficient and reliable communications platform. The BlackBerry services will be able to run on the P900, while maintaining the existing P900 experience and functionality. BlackBerry connectivity support on the P900 is expected later this year.
“We’re delighted to be adding BlackBerry connectivity to the palette of solutions we support with our smartphones, thereby further expanding customer choice. The P900 smartphone is a multi-faceted device which offers productivity, entertainment and communications and our agreement with RIM ensures our customers a proven, market-leading mobile e-mail and data solution,” says Jan Wareby, Executive Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing of Sony Ericsson.
“We are pleased to be working with Sony Ericsson to provide our end-user customers and carrier partners with greater wireless device choices while enabling IT departments to leverage their existing BlackBerry infrastructure,” said Don Morrison, Chief Operating Officer at Research In Motion.
“IT departments and consumers are recognizing the productivity benefits that can be gained from wireless access to corporate data and email,” said Marit Doving, EVP, Marketing, Symbian. “By adding BlackBerry Connect to the P900, RIM has enabled Sony Ericsson to further exploit the rich functionality of Symbian OS.”
The BlackBerry architecture for enterprise customers includes back-end integration with corporate information systems, enhanced manageability and end-to-end security. BlackBerry for individual users enables push-based access to one or multiple internet-based email accounts without the need for a corporate IT platform.
The P900 is a high-quality communications tool for voice calls, text and picture messaging and e-mail, as well as providing full PDA/organizer functions. In addition, it is a camera-phone capable of recording video and still images and also provides a good gaming experience on the 65K colour touch-screen. The wide range of applications available for download enables the P900 to do much more than making voice calls, thereby increasing its value for both consumers and operators. The P900 is based on Symbian OS v7.0 and the established UIQ user interface.

QUALCOMM’s MSM6225 solution to enable entry-level voice and data devices

3GSM World Congress
QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced the MSM6225 Mobile Station Modem chipset and system software to support data-centric and entry-level devices for the emerging WCDMA (UMTS) market.

With the introduction of the MSM6225 solution, QUALCOMM is expanding its WCDMA (UMTS) product portfolio to enable its manufacturing partners to take full advantage of the revenue potential created by the market segmentation and growth the WCDMA (UMTS) industry is experiencing.  Samples of the MSM6225 chipset are expected to ship in mid-2004.
“As WCDMA (UMTS) network rollouts accelerate around the world, operators are demanding WCDMA handsets to address different segments of the market. Our MSM6250 and the new MSM6225 chipsets and system software support the need for segmentation, and enable our OEM partners to address these new revenue opportunities while leveraging their investment in the MSM6250 platform development,” said Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies.
“With the new MSM6225 chipset solution, our handset partners will be able to offer voice and data phones at cost-effective price points.”
QUALCOMM’s pin-compatible MSM6225 solution utilizes the same hardware and software platforms as the MSM6250 chipset, which shortens the certification process and development time for faster time-to-market and reduced cost. Building on this architecture, manufacturers can develop a single-platform design and differentiate the handset for operators that require both an offering for entry-level data applications and an offering encompassing the full spectrum of multimedia capabilities. The fully integrated MSM6225 solution means manufacturers can offer dynamic new wireless devices at attractive price points as they introduce and expand their own WCDMA (UMTS) product offerings.
The MSM6225 system solution supports multi-band GSM and WCDMA (UMTS), which will help enable worldwide WCDMA (UMTS) and GSM roaming. The roaming capabilities of the MSM6225 chipset make it an ideal solution for wireless data card and PDA manufacturers who require a cost-effective, high performance wireless modem solution for their enterprise device offerings. The MSM6225 solution includes access to QUALCOMM’s BREW solution.
QUALCOMM’s BREW solution enables the development of applications, the customization of devices with advanced content including Java Virtual Machines (JVMs), multimedia messaging services (MMS), Web browsers and user interfaces (UI), allowing operators and OEMs to differentiate their products and services to increase revenues. The MSM6225 chipset is also compatible with the Java runtime environment; the J2ME solution can be built entirely on the MSM6225 chipset as an extension to the BREW solution.

Optimised network gaming, real-time communications and security framework for plug and play deployment of global games services

3GSM World Congress
Ideaworks3D Ltd., a leading provider of advanced mobile gaming technology and content, today launched Airplay 2.0, a connected rich gaming SDK and end-to-end service solution for publishers, network operators and device manufacturers, on the Series 60 Platform. Series 60 is the world’s leading smartphone platform, with millions of devices in the market already generating significant demand for high quality mobile gaming experiences.

Airplay 2.0 is a major upgrade to the wireless industry’s only commercially proven, turnkey solution for the global provisioning of rich multiplayer mobile games. Airplay’s unique architecture dramatically simplifies the development of revenue generating connected games, and offers unprecedented power and flexibility in game provisioning, billing and administration.
Airplay 2.0 will be demonstrated for attendees of the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes February 23rd-26th, 2004.
While the feature-rich Airplay SDK offers developers the option of authoring their connected game for both Symbian OS and Java (J2ME), it has now been optimised for Series 60 smartphones. The Series 60 smartphone architecture provides users with all the basic and advanced cellular phone functions in a compact device characterised by a large color screen, rich communications and enhanced applications.
“Ideaworks3D is particularly pleased to offer Airplay 2.0 first on the Series 60 Platform, which offers numerous advantages to developers, and a rapidly growing market base that is proving very attractive to major game publishers,” said Adrian Sack, CEO, Ideaworks3D. “Game publishers and service providers now have access to a globally proven end-to-end solution for rapid and cost effective deployment of connected mobile games.
“Connected gaming represents a radical shift in mobile gaming, evolving from a solitary play experience to new and compelling multiplayer gaming that offers the industry opportunities for driving higher data revenue while delighting mobile gamers,” he added.
According to Lee Epting, Vice President of Forum Nokia, Nokia’s global developer community, “The launch of Airplay 2.0 is a key component in the infrastructure supporting mobile multiplayer gaming and will allow large numbers of developers to unleash the creative possibilities in this new entertainment category. We’re excited that Ideaworks3D has chosen to support the growing community of developers targeting the large installed base of Series 60 devices.”
Nokia created the Series 60 Platform and licenses it to leading cell phone vendors Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and Siemens, who together with Nokia make up nearly two-thirds of global cell phone sales. Series 60 devices feature large, high- resolution screens with up to 65,000 colors, at least 4MB of memory, and support thousands of software titles.
In 2003, Nokia licensed Airplay 1.0 from Ideaworks3D to power the launch catalogue of titles for the N-Gage Arena, the world’s first globally available multiplayer wireless gaming service. The N-Gage Arena today delivers the most advanced and compelling wireless gaming experience available on a mobile phone. Ideaworks3D recently received a BAFTA award nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognising this outstanding technical achievement.

3GSM World Congress
First Hop, a leader in mobile middleware, and SFR (France) today announced that SFR has chosen First Hop Wireless Broker for the delivery of application and content messaging services.

SFR is the second largest operator in France with over 14 million subscribers. SFR uses First Hop Wireless Broker to power its value-added messaging business. Today the most commonly used services include applications such as infotainment, news, and gaming. First Hop Wireless Broker products, Message Router and Service Manager, are already in production use at SFR.
“We were searching the market for messaging middleware flexibility, high performance, and service provisioning capabilities that could take our business to the next level”, said the SFR project manager. “We selected First Hop Wireless Broker to enhance the quality of our messaging services since it not only fulfilled our general selection criteria, but also came with the trust factor of well-known, production-proven customer references.
“We had very limited time available for adapting and deploying the First Hop solution into our network and existing messaging infrastructure. We were impressed with the speed and professionalism with which the First Hop staff implemented the project, on specification and on time”.
SFR is the latest mobile operator to join First Hop’s impressive list of references for First Hop Wireless Broker. The product is already licensed to over 30 mobile networks across the world. The positive development of First Hop has not gone unnoticed in the industry – a few weeks ago, the company won the Finnish Software Industry 2004 Award for International Breakthrough.
“We are truly delighted that SFR has chosen First Hop technology for its fast-growing value added messaging services.” states Timo T Laaksonen, CEO of First Hop. “This contract also marks our entry into the French market with First Hop Wireless Broker. We look forward to working in close collaboration with SFR, supporting their significant business growth with quality products and reliable services,” adds Laaksonen.

Agree to deploy a variety of Push-to-Talk enabled Mobile Phones on the market
 

ModeLabs, a provider of vertical application devices and turn-key service solutions for operators, and Open-Plug, an innovative provider of embedded software frameworks for the mobile phone industry, have entered into an agreement to provide a range of wireless terminals supporting Push-to-Talk (P2T). The two companies decided to combine their intellectual property and technology to address the growing need for network operators to rapidly deploy turn-key value-added solutions.

Under the agreement, operator specific implementations of P2T based terminals will be developed and sold under operator’s brand name or ModeLabs own brand.  ModeLabs’ solutions address the operator’s need for new service deployment, from the business evaluation phase to market deployment including handset specification, engineering and supply channel management.
 
The offering is based on Open-Plug’s Linux-FlexibleWare which enables easy and rapid integration and deployment of customised terminals on the market. In addition, Open-Plug’s technology enables field-upgrades of any part of the terminal software.
 
“ModeLabs is addressing a real market need by helping operators to quickly deploy customised value-added services like P2T with a complete solution including terminals,” said Eric Baissus, CEO of Open-Plug. He added, “Network operators are demanding more responsiveness from the wireless terminal industry.  We are proud to be part of ModeLabs and the unique market proposition that it offers.  The FlexibleWare technology benefits in terms of market responsiveness and flexibility for customisation are maximised”.
 
“The mobile terminal industry has tremendous bottlenecks in the rapid supply of phones supporting new services like P2T.  ModeLabs objective is to overcome them and provide operators with a complete solution, including a phone offering tailored to their needs” said Henri-Nicolas Olivier, of ModeLabs, “Time to market, customisation flexibility, service deployment and maintenance/evolution through Over-The-Air updates are key differentiators for us, Open-Plug’s Linux FlexibleWareTM offering provides these features in an easy to deploy, safe and non-intrusive way”.

External Links

Open-plug
Modelabs

France Telecom announced today the launch of “MMS Exchange”, an interworking service that enables mobile operators to roll out international data services easily and quickly. With MMS Exchange, mobile carriers will allow subscribers to send multimedia messages without barriers, a key factor in building customer loyalty and enhancing ARPU. In addition to managing an efficient technical interface, France Telecom will also negotiate MMS interworking agreements for operators. France Telecom’s platform is now ready for trials with mobile operators.

“Our service lets mobile operators plug into networks quickly and help improve end-user experience of GPRS. Successful network interworking is one of the basic requirements for multimedia mobile to really take off,” said Patrice Girard-Donnat, VP Voice & Mobile Product Management at France Telecom Networks & Carriers. 

Designed by France Telecom R&D experts, the solution will manage both outbound and inbound MMS traffic. Thanks to a simple and efficient mechanism, customers will be able to exchange their interworking MMS traffic with their partners of choice, including operators that are not France Telecom MMS Exchange customers. This brings flexibility to the deployment of operators’ MMS interworking agreements. The MMS Exchange service is based on France Telecom’s SS7 and GRX services, recognized as market leaders in terms of capilarity and coverage.

External Links

France Telecom Wholesale Solutions