|
Nokia Likes VoIP After All |
|
|
|
Written by Adam Gosling
|
|
Thursday, 30 November 2006 |
While Nokia took a walk on the dark side earlier this week
announcing a solution for mobile operators that would allow them to effectively
block certain types of traffic like (specifically P2P VoIP systems like Skype) on
their networks, the company has now pronounced its love for all things IP.
The Nokia announcement
of an upgrade to its Flexi Intelligent Service Node (ISN) allows operators to identify
and manage data streams according to its type of service.
Less than a week later the company is now singing the
praises of IP saying the Internet is its saviour and will help the company drive
its future growth.
Nokia CEO and President, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, told more
than 2,000 people attending its Nokia World 2006 conference that the company
expects the mobile Internet market to grow as high as 3 billion mobile subscriptions
globally next year to as high as 4 billion subscriptions by 2010.
"Mobile communications is once again changing even
faster than many of us have predicted, and we are still far away from this
being a mature market." said Kallasvuo. "The internet has transformed
the way we live our lives and communicate with each other, and we expect it to
play a key role in the next phase of Nokia's growth.
"The next wave of the Internet will be to make it truly
mobile, creating new ways for people to connect to others and find information
from wherever they are. Nokia intends to be at the forefront of this new era
and be the company that truly merges the internet and mobility."
"Nokia is embracing the vision of telecommunications
that IP is making possible," says Roberto Loiola, Vice President,
Marketing & Sales, Networks, Nokia.
"Voice over IP is already a
fact of life for many consumers around the world, giving them more
opportunities to keep in touch in novel and economical ways. The use of
broadband Internet access for voice communication is here to stay, and Nokia
recognizes that traditional operators - both mobile and fixed - can swim in
these waters as well.
"At the same time, IP gives operators better control
over how their network resources are used - an important consideration as
multimedia services proliferate and data traffic grows. Here in Amsterdam, we are happy
to present our vision of these new IP opportunities in the world of
convergence."
The company has also announced that users of the Nokia N80
Internet Edition will be able to use SIPphone's
Gizmo VoIP services. The Nokia N80 Internet Edition is optimized for SIP-based
Internet calls (perhaps explaining why the P2P Skype is seen as something that
needs to be controlled).
Gizmo announced back in July
that all calls between yourself and any users you intorduce to the service are free, whether they are PC-to-PC, to
landlines or to mobiles. There are some exceptions such as calls to Australian
mobiles for example.
Nokia and SIPphone have worked together to create an easy
way to configure and make calls using Gizmo VoIP directly from your multimedia
computer.
Ralph Eric Kunz, Nokia VP for Multimedia, said the collaboration
with SIPphone and Nokia's open VoIP platform allows for any SIP-based VoIP
provider to incorporate their services into Nokia's device architecture.
www.gizmoproject.com
Here's some more detail (unedited) from the Nokia VoIP announcement.
The Nokia Communication Suite provides consumers and
business users with software that turns their PCs into softphones for accessing
a wide range of "Rich Call" services over broadband connections - but
with the added simplicity of using only one online identity and one billing
account. The solution allows operators to offer seamless services across their
fixed broadband and 3G mobile broadband networks, bridging these two domains.
Thanks to IP, Rich Calls can include Voice over IP (VoIP)
calls, Video Sharing, video calls, instant messaging, presence, file sharing, and
other multimedia services. With the Nokia Communication Suite, users can make
and receive VoIP calls and other Rich Calls from their PCs using their existing
mobile number. Calls to their mobile number can be answered with either their
mobile or PC softphone.
Operators can offer both PC-PC calls, calls to mobile
phones, or calls to traditional telephones at competitive rates and can bundle
Rich Call services in innovative ways. Rich Calls can be charged to same
account as the subscriber's fixed or mobile calls, simplifying their billing
and avoiding, for example, the need to set up separate, pre-paid accounts for
VoIP service. The Nokia Communication Suite can also allow travelling
subscribers to avoid roaming charges for mobile calls when abroad.
The solution, which uses the Nokia Unified Core Network to
process, connect and charge for the calls, will be demonstrated at Nokia World
November 29 - 30 and is available for sale to operators next month.
Related news items Newer news items
Older news items
|
|
|
|
