Cellular-WiFi convergence

Do-it-yourself convergence for business

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:01:37 -0500

Convergence--as in cellular-WiFi convergence--is gaining traction. While most businesses will wait until telecom carriers offer converged services to them, there is the option to buy gear to do convergence on your own:

DiVitas Networks offers an on-premises appliance and a client installed on mobile devices which allows users to roam between carrier cellular networks, company WLANs and public WiFi hotspots. The appliance can serve as a PBX or can work with existing ones and it starts at $5,495.
Siemens Communications this week will debut its HiPath MobileConnect, an appliance and mobile client system similar to DiVitas's. The appliance resides between a company's IP-PBX and WLAN, extending the office phone to a mobile device. Employees would appreciate the fact that they have one phone number and one voice mailbox, whether they're on the road or at their desks. Note that for the system to work, all employees would have to be given dual-mode mobile devices that can switch between cellular and WiFi networks. The Siemens client is available only on two mobile devices: the Symbian-based Nokia E60 and the Windows Mobile-based Fujitsu Pocket Loox. Siemens says it will support more devices when the product becomes available in the spring (DiVitas's client works with dual-mode phones, WiFi phones, standard cell phones, and softphones, and it's compatible with the Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Linux operating systems).

Businesses contemplating do-it-yourself convergence should make sure that their networks support VoWLANs, the Session Initiation Protocol, and Layer 3 roaming.

For more on do-it-yourself convergence:
-see details of DiVitas convergence solution
-see more about Siemens HiPath MobileConnect
-Elena Malykhina's Informationweek report
-and Anony Savvas's Computerweekly report

Hurdles to mobile media convergence

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:01:36 -0500

It is difficult to think of a term which is used more than "convergence"--as in WiFi-cellular convergence--to describe trends in wireless communication. Andrew Burger discusses the difficulties convergence will have to overcome before it becomes commonplace. Here is a short list of the difficulties standing in the way of the vision of converging quad-play services that integrate fixed and mobile telecommunications:

A multitude of emergent technical standards and formats constrain the distribution of content. A lack of standardization of network speeds, routing management, data storage capacity, power usage and digital rights management all continue to hobble the industry.
More participants from different markets and disciplines are moving into the smartphone market.
Even though WiFi radios are cheap, the software--especially for roaming--is cumbersome, and energy consumption is still a problem.
Poorly designed user interfaces are an impediment to increased smartphone usability.
Upstream access and application issues are problems, especially when it comes to m-commerce.

For more on the state of convergence:
- see Andrew Burger's ecommercetimes discussion

BT unveils Fusion WiFi for Business

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 19:01:33 -0500

Without much fanfare, BT is now offering WiFi as part of its Fusion WiFi for Business, which the company aims at small businesses rather than consumers. Commentators make a point that this is the "converged" service which many thought BT should have offered initially (the company instead try to go with a Bluetooth version based on UMA). The new service will be made available with the Nokia 6136 and Motorola A910 handsets, and Samsung's P200 to follow in January.

We note that BT, probably in anticipation that most users will be using their handsets to surf the Web and access email, is throwing in 20 MB per month worth of GPRS data access for free. The rates are also reasonable: 5 pence for all UK fixed line calls, 15 pence for calls to BT mobiles, or 25 pence for calls to other UK mobiles. Each call can last for up to an hour.

The new WiFi fusions service is part of a larger plan: BT already operates some 2,000 Openzone hotspots at airports, railway stations, and hotels. The company has plans to build a first phase of 12 Wireless Cities by the end of March 2007. The upshot: Most of the UK's major city centers will soon offer WiFi coverage with Openzone access.

For more on BT's latest offering:
- see this AssoDigitale report
- and this Tony Dennis' The Inquirer report

Companies eyeing in-flight cellular, WiFi service

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 20:01:36 -0400

We have all seen this in our neighborhoods: A restaurant opens at the corner, and in a year closes its doors. Another restaurant opens its doors on the very same spot and is wildly successful. Is it the food? Service? Management? State of the economy? It is not always easy to tell. It may well be the same with offering phone connections to airline passengers. Boeing thought it was a natural candidate to offer such service and created Connexion from Boeing, but it could never make it work and last month gave up on the idea.

Now others are trying to succeed where Boeing has failed. Colorado-based AirCell expects to have a carrier operating with its service by late 2007. The company calculates that since there are about 11 million flights in the U.S. every year, with Americans making some 660 million trips a year, there must be a way to make money by letting these passengers talk while in flight. Glenn Fleishman says that if the company succeeds in signing up most of the major domestic airlines, and is able to cover the entire Western hemisphere, then it has the numbers to make it work. What is more, unlike Connexion, AirCell has no middleman to collect a fee for data transit, and it relies on a much cheaper antenna and ground station package with the spectrum it purchased. Fleishman also notes that the growing interest in intra-network media servers may play into AirCell's hands: The company may have only 1.5 Mbps to and from the ground, but it has 20 to 30 Mbps of throughput within the plane.

Note that the availability--and popularity--of the service will only grow as technical hurdles are overcome. It is already technically feasible to use one's cellular phone to make a call from an airliner, but there are problems: Airlines ban use of electronic devices below 10,000 feet; it is difficult to get a signal on a cell phone above 20,000 feet; and cellular coverage may be spotty or nonexistent over water or sparsely populated areas. The solution is pico cells, which we will discuss in a future issue.

For more on cellular, WiFi in-flight business
- see Chris Cobbs' Orlando Sentinel report and Glenn Fleishman discussion
For more on AirCell:
- see this Denver Business Journal report

Skype, The Cloud offer VoIP

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:01:33 -0400

It was bound to happen: Skype is joining hands with hotspot provider The Cloud in offering mobile roaming phone calls through Skype handsets across the U.K. and Europe. Customers with an SMC Networks' WiFi phone for Skype will be able to make VoIP calls automatically through Skype when they are within range of one of The Cloud's hotspots. Calls to and from other Skype users are free, and Skype says that calls to fixed and mobile users can be made at a substantially reduced cost if customers purchased SkypeOut minutes.

This is not a bad deal. The Cloud operates some 8,500 hotspots in the U.K., Germany, Scandinavia and The Netherlands. The service is already available in the U.K., and German and Nordic service will become available toward the end of the year. France, Spain, Italy and Benelux will join in early 2007. There is more: Early joiners will receive a month's free access. Niall Murphy, CTO of The Cloud, says: "Mobile VoIP using Skype is an innovative and rapidly emerging market and our agreement with SMC provides an exciting new service for our WiFi hotspots and marks the start of a real low-cost alternative to traditional telecoms' services."

For more on the Skype-The Cloud deal
- see Simon Aughton PCPro report