Colibria and Syniverse Underpin First Global Internet Services Interconnect
The global significance of using "Internet Presence" as a major component of our digital lifestyle was today further emphasised by the announcement that FMCA Telecom Operators are working together to provide interconnection and inter-working for rich presence applications between their services and online communities.
"Presence" is commonly used in many online communications applications and services, such as Instant Messaging and social networking, to indicate whether other parties are online and ready to participate in communications activities.
Leading telecom operators such as Brasil Telecom, BT Plc, KPN, Korea Telecom, NTT Communications and Telkom South Africa, have initiated trials between each other to potentially reach over 200 million customers with new global Internet services. Entitled "Open Presence", this initiative lays the foundation for the next wave of service interoperability, enabling users on different global operators’ networks to inform each other of their real-time availability and delivering enhanced social networking applications and services.
The Open Presence trial will operate as a global hub, delivering a multi-protocol bridge between communities. As deeper presence information gets progressively deployed, it will act as a conduit through which IP messaging and presence can be used on different devices (mobile phone, PC, IPTV, PDA, etc). This will provide new ways for customers to actively update and display rich profile information - including such items as their picture, location, online activities, mood, availability status and communication preferences - to their expanded personal or business contacts, regardless of network, telecom operator or online community.
"Our customers are increasingly demanding access to new generation converged communications services that provide the convenience and ease of use that can be found in social networks and online environments. This trial is an illustration of how global telecom operators, as members of the FMCA, can collaborate to break new ground in the development of global Internet services for hundreds of millions of customers", says Steve Andrews, FMCA Chairman.
During the Open Presence trial, technical, operational and commercial models for presence enabled services in areas such as unified communications, VoIP, mobile IM, IPTV, social networking, content sharing services and networked gaming as well as Wholesale services shall be explored. This will be supported by the joint technical and operational expertise in IP inter-working, multiple protocol conversion (XMPP-SIP), routing, IP clearing and settlement of the participating telecom operators and suppliers.
A specific thank you to Colibria and Syniverse Technologies who have supplied the Open Presence hub for the trial.
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About the Open Presence Suppliers:
· Syniverse and Colibria are working together to introduce a solution that will provide seamless interconnection and interworking between telecom operators for presence applications, as well as IM, SMS and MMS. This will enable an operator’s subscribers to spontaneously communicate and share experiences with individuals, groups and communities, whether at home at a PC or when out and using their mobile phone.
· Syniverse brings more than 20 years of experience providing interoperability and interworking between disparate networks and services while Colibria offers the most complete enhanced messaging product portfolio available today as well as extensive SIP, XMPP and IMPS protocol expertise.
About the FMCA:
The Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA) is a global, non-profit organisation whose objective is to accelerate the development and availability of customer-driven, high-quality, seamless and easy to use Convergence products and services.
Its mission is to be the voice of the customer for the evolution of Wireless Broadband and Convergence.
Representing a global base of over 700 million customers who stand to benefit from the development of Convergence products and services, its objective is to ensure, through close collaboration with industry, that devices, access points, applications and underlying networks interoperate to deliver a superior user experience
The FMCA was formed in June 2004 and incorporated as a not-for-profit trade association under New York law in August 2006.
Executive Members of the FMCA:
· Brasil Telecom
· BT (Chair & President) - UK
· China Telecom
· KPN – Netherlands
· Rogers Communications Inc. (Vice Chair) - Canada
· Swisscom – Switzerland
· Telecom Italia
Ordinary Members of the FMCA:
· Belgacom – Belgium
· Bharti Airtel - India
· Eircom – Republic of Ireland
· Innove – Phillippines
· Korea Telecom
· Maxis Communications - Malaysia
· NTT Communications - Japan
· Optus – Australia
· ONO – Spain
· Deutsch Telekom - Germany
· TDC Mobil - Denmark
· Telecom New Zealand – New Zealand
· Teliasonera – Sweden
· Telkom SA Limited – South Africa
· True – Thailand
Associate Members (Vendor Affiliation Programme)
· Broadcom
· Gemalto
· Huawei
· Intel
· NEC Japan
· Marvell
· Motorola
· Qisda
· Quiconnect
· Texas Instruments