Spirent’s ULTS system enables comprehensive interoperability testing of A-GPS GSM handsets

Spirent Communications has announced a significant enhancement to its UMTS Location Test System (ULTS) for the testing of GSM and WCDMA mobiles incorporating Assisted GPS (A-GPS).

A-GPS is the most popular high-accuracy location technology choice of operators deploying next-generation location-based services in Europe and around the world.

Spirent’s ULTS already allows operators and mobile manufacturers to test fully the accuracy and reliability of A-GPS-equipped mobiles prior to widespread commercial deployment. However, applicable industry standards for A-GPS allow a wide range of implementation options, resulting in a very significant potential for interoperability issues between mobiles and networks.

Now, Spirent’s SMLC Emulator (SSE) has been added to the ULTS, enabling mobile manufacturers to test fully the interoperability of their products’ location ability against the wide range of implementation possibilities.

This enhancement helps reduce the need for costly field trials and helps ensure reliable operation in roaming scenarios prior to full deployment. The highly flexible SSE will allow mobile manufacturers to test their devices over the full range of location services message content and call flows that are likely to be encountered in live networks.

“Operators hoping to launch profitable location-based services over 2.5G and 3G networks clearly want to minimise any performance and interoperability issues experienced by their subscribers,” states Richard Catmur, wireless business development director at Spirent Communications. “Ideally these problems need to be caught before services and mobiles are deployed. With the new SSE, our ULTS solution now makes it possible to identify both performance and interoperability issues in the lab, helping to enable the success of next-generation services.”

A Serving Mobile Location Centre (SMLC) is the key network element in A-GPS implementation. The SMLC manages the processing associated with the location of a mobile and in many cases makes the actual calculation of a mobile’s location. In order to detect interoperability problems caused by implementation differences in SMLCs and mobiles, extensive lab tests using actual SMLCs and expensive field trials are usually carried out.

Now equipped with the new SSE, the ULTS can emulate the function of a real-world SMLC in a lab environment. Spirent Communications’ wireless test solutions aid in all phases of mobile handset development and deployment for the world’s leading chipset, handset and infrastructure manufacturers and mobile service providers.  Spirent is considered by the industry the “one-stop-shop” for CDMA handset performance and certification testing. Among its accomplishments, Spirent has introduced the first and only integrated solution available to test location-capable CDMA phones, a critical element of assisting manufacturers in meeting the U.S. FCC E911 requirements.

Spirent has leveraged its success in mobile performance and certification testing in the CDMA market to also bring comprehensive performance analysis to the GSM and WCDMA market.

External Links

Spirent Communications

GPS Leader Delivers Comprehensive Solution to Ease LBS Deployment in Wireless Carrier Networks

SiRF Technology, a supplier of GPS semiconductor and software solutions, today introduced a trio of new location products and technologies that break key barriers to making location awareness an integral part of mainstream mobile devices. 

Recognizing the need to provide outstanding location capability across a wide variety of mobile devices, applications and networks, SiRF’s comprehensive new location solutions help wireless carriers reduce the cost and risk of location-enabling their networks while enhancing the user experience for location based services (LBS). 

These solutions open the door to a wider variety of location-aware cell phones, smart phones, PDAs and other wireless handheld devices, and enable carriers to meet the rigorous demands of consumer applications.

The new products, to debut next week at the 3GSM World Congress, include a chip-set and an IP platform based on SiRF’s new, third-generation GPS architecture, SiRFstarIII.  With its industry leading performance, SiRFstarIII provides flexibility for location enabling a wide range of mobile devices. 

Multimode GPS

The new SiRFSoft mobile GPS software architecture, also unveiled today, represents a new approach to multimode GPS-enabled location technology.  Geared toward smart phone devices with powerful application processors, SiRFSoft mobile GPS architecture is designed to deliver scalable performance cost-effectively by eliminating the need for a dedicated GPS baseband chip. SiRF today also introduced the SiRFLoc Server platform, incorporating SiRF’s patented SiRFLoc multimode technology.  Deliverable through SiRF’s infrastructure partners, in a carrier-class network location server, the platform supports either standards-based control plane or IP-based user plane operation.

Consumers’ performance expectations in the wireless location market have become much more rigorous.  In order to satisfy consumer expectations, response time for a location application has to be fast, and work in varied wireless environment, under difficult signal conditions – indoors and out – even if the network connection is lost altogether. SiRFStarIII and SiRFSoft both bring unique benefits to mobile devices and are designed to deliver fast times to first fix and high-sensitivity acquisition to make real-time navigation practical where conventional GPS often fails.

Processor efficient

SiRFSoft GPS architecture is optimized for efficient usage of application processor engines that are driving many of today’s smart phone and wireless connected PDAs.  Portable to the market leading platforms such as Intel XScaleTM and OMAPI, its performance is scalable to the available throughput of these devices. 

External Links

SiRF Technology
Intel

iAnywhere Solutions, a subsidiary of Sybase, has announced the availability of the free M-Business Anywhere Developer Edition, which enables developers to deliver Web-based content and applications to PDAs with minimal recoding. In addition, the company unveiled new integration with SQL Anywhere Studio, enabling developers to leverage the market-leading mobile database to create data-driven Web-based mobile applications.

M-Business Anywhere now combines the speed and low TCO of Web development with the power and sophistication of SQL Anywhere Studio for on-device data and synchronisation,” said Ojas Rege, senior director of Mobile Solutions at iAnywhere.

“With M-Business Anywhere, developers can quickly and easily deliver a wide range of Web-based applications right to the palm of users’ hands. And with the new, free Developer Edition, they can take M-Business Anywhere out for a test drive to really get a feel for its capabilities.” 

“We have relied on M-Business Anywhere for many years to deliver time-sensitive information to Republican senators’ mobile devices,” said Tim Petty, director of Information Resources for the U.S. Senate Republican Conference. “With the new Developer Edition, developers can see for themselves how simple it is to mobilise Web content and enterprise applications.”

M-Business Anywhere is the core technology of the popular AvantGo mobile Internet service, which has more than 10 million registered users worldwide. The platform enables companies to mobilise internal and external Web sites as well as a wide range of back-end enterprise applications including CRM, ERP, field service, data collection, inspection, help desk and business intelligence solutions. With the new M-Business Anywhere Developer Edition, developers can create mobile applications that increase the speed and accuracy of data collection, reduce costs and enable faster, more efficient decision-making.

In addition, iAnywhere introduced integration for M-Business Anywhere with SQL Anywhere Studio’s UltraLite technology, a key component of the company’s market-leading mobile database. Integration between UltraLite and M-Business Anywhere allows enterprises to create mobile applications with all the benefits of a relational database on the device and the development and deployment advantages of a Web-based architecture.

 Interested developers can download both the M-Business Anywhere Developer Edition and the latest version of the SQL Anywhere Studio Developer Edition by visiting the link below. This site also features a link to register for the upcoming “Mobile Web Development Fundamentals” Webcast series.

Both M-Business Anywhere and SQL Anywhere Studio leverage an always available architecture, providing support for both wireless and offline “sync and go” connectivity. This is a critical capability in the current wireless landscape, where cost, bandwidth, signal availability, and signal quality present significant issues. This always available access is essential for organisations to keep their mobile workers productive with the information they need, when they need it, while reducing costs associated with connection times.

External Links

iAnywhere developer edition site

ProQuent ACCESS Mobile enables network operators to filter out and control access to inappropriate, indecent and offensive content

ProQuent Systems, provider of intelligent mobile data infrastructure, today announced the launch of ProQuent ACCESS (Authorized Content Control & Electronic Subject Screening) Mobile.

The solution will enable mobile operators, for the first time, to manage and monitor content sent or accessed over their network without any degradation in network performance.

In January 2004, UK mobile network operators Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, O2 and 3 signed up to a Code of Practice that governs the way content is classified and made available to customers.
The Code, endorsed by UK Communications Minister Stephen Timms, will come into
force by the end of 2004.

ProQuent ACCESS Mobile is the only commercially available solution which enables mobile operators to actively enforce content and access control policies in real-time.

ProQuent ACCESS Mobile can:

*    Avert access to inappropriate mobile Internet sites and content
(including video streams);
*    Filter mobile messages containing inappropriate or offensive material from unapproved sites;
*    Allow operators to manage services based on content
classifications.

It will allow mobile network operators to create tailored service
packages for subscriber groups such as young children or teenagers. Operators will also be able to provide authorized-only access to adult content, chat rooms or gambling sites, for example.

The ProQuent ACCESS Mobile solution is designed to be easily integrated with a mobile network operator’s existing service delivery platform. As content filtering and access control is managed at the network level, mobile phone users do not have to upgrade their handsets or download any software.

In a statement about the launch of the mobile industry Code of Practice, Stephen Timms, Communications Minister, said “This Code is an excellent example of the responsible self-regulation we are keen to encourage among the mobile operators to address issues relating to new types of content now available on mobile handsets. New technology introduces significant benefits and opportunities, but it can also bring new
concerns and we must ensure that safeguards are in place to protect those who are vulnerable, such as children.”

“How to prevent inappropriate and unsuitable content reaching handsets and polluting the mobile Internet is a burning issue for every network operator,” said Tom Hamilton, founder and CTO at ProQuent Systems.

“Operators realize they have a duty of care to provide a safe and controlled mobile environment, but have so far been unable to deliver against this in practice. ProQuent ACCESS Mobile is the first solution to be designed specifically to address this issue and will enable operators to give parents complete peace-of-mind over their children’s use of mobile services.”

The solution is based on the ProQuent MSSP (Mobile Services Switching Point), which provides a flexible platform for operators to manage data applications running on their networks. The ProQuent MSSP scans and filters data traffic and checks Internet access requests against the world’s largest categorized database of inappropriate Web content, created and updated by SurfControl. The SurfControl Content Database includes more than six million URLs and one billion Web pages.

SurfControl reviews and categorizes Web sites in more than 65 languages and 200 countries, and over 35,000 new URLs are added every week. The SurfControl Content Database is kept current with a combination of expert human review, state-of-the-art automated tools and customer submissions.

ProQuent ACCESS Mobile includes three pre-configured service packages:
*    ACCESS Mobile PC for Parental Control
*    ACCESS Mobile EC for Enterprise Control
*    ACCESS Mobile GM for Online Gaming

ProQuent ACCESS Mobile also provides the tools and infrastructure needed for operators to create custom services packages or to integrate control services into pre-existing packages.

External Links

ProQuent
SurfControl

Alcatel and Orascom Telecom announced today the launch of the first commercial GSM network in the Central region of Iraq including Baghdad. The contract is part of the Global Frame Agreement signed between Orascom Telecom and Alcatel,  further enhancing their ongoing relationship in the Middle East and Africa.

In the frame of the contract signed in September 2003 with Orascom Telecom, Alcatel is one of the major suppliers of this new network. The first phase of the network installation started in October 2003. On November 25, 2003, Alcatel succeeded in making the first phone call on the new network. Orascom Telecom  is hoping to reach 1 million subscribers in the first two years.

The new network based on Alcatel’s industry leading Evolium solution, comprises a core Network Sub-System (NSS), including a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) as well as an Intelligent Network platform for value-added services and revenue-generating applications such as Voice Mail Service (VMS) and a Short Message Service Center (SMS-C).  Alcatel is responsible for installation and commissioning of the network in addition to supporting the network operations.

As an industry-leading solution, the Alcatel Evolium™ family supports GSM, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS technologies that can integrate future 3G mobile data applications.

Naguib Sawiris, Chairman of the Board of Orascom Telecom said, “Alcatel has proven to be a very flexible and supportive partner of Orascom Telecom. With the full support of Alcatel we have been able to meet this new challenge and provide enhanced GSM services to the Iraqi people in a  record time.”

“This new contract reflects a significant milestone in our partnership with Orascom Telecom”, said Marc Rouanne, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel’s mobile communications activities. “Taking advantage of our deep knowledge of the Iraqi telecommunications industry, we are convinced that this cutting-edge network will contribute to help Iraqis accelerate the reconstruction of their country.”

External Links

Alcatel

VoluBill, the leading provider of data services charging software for mobile operators, today announced that it has extended the capability of its Dialog Control and Charging Platform (D2CP) to encompass Push To Talk (PTT) technology in readiness for mobile operators’ plans to roll out services in Europe and Asia in 2004.  VoluBill is proud to introduce this capability in partnership with IndTeleSoft, a leading provider of mobile SIP solutions.

Since its launch, ‘Push To Talk’ (PTT) has been a significant success in the United States, with huge demand from both personal and business users for services and handsets.  PTT has proven particularly popular in dispatch and light-industrial applications. 

Such is the popularity of PTT in the US that a study carried out by Zelos Group in Summer 2003 amongst 1300 mobile phone users found that PTT capability was second only to integrated digital cameras in the top 10 features that users wanted on their phone.  Mobile operators are now training their sights on the Asian and European markets, hoping that these markets mirror that of the US in terms of take up and success.

As with any new technology, charging and billing solutions must be able to deal with every possible scenario to maximise efficiency and minimise revenue leakage. 

VoluBill has worked closely with IndTeleSoft to extend the capability of D2CP  – VoluBill’s network-based data and messaging content charging platform – to support PTT, and has developed a solution that works cooperatively but non-intrusively with the mobile operator’s SIP and Push To Talk servers to provide a fully flexible PTT charging function.

Commenting on these developments, VoluBill’s CEO Andre Meyer, said: “PTT technology presents several challenges for both charging and billing solutions providers.  Duration or ‘Speech Time’ is one logical basis on which to price usage for subscribers, but this can be quite difficult for many operators to measure and get onto a bill.  Together with IndTeleSoft, we are introducing a complete solution that provides a service delivery and charging capability for operators who want to implement this exciting new service.”

Mr. Jawad Ayaz, CEO of IndTeleSoft, said, “We are happy to join forces with VoluBill in offering a state-of-the art solution to provide Push-To-Talk functionality.  By combining IndTeleSoft’s market-leading PTT Client solutions with VoluBill’s leading-edge charging solutions we are able to offer service providers the kind of end-to-end solution they need to get up and working and earning revenue from this advanced service.”

External Links

VoluBill
IndTeleSoft