Unwired Planet Inc. took another step toward making its vision of Wireless Application Protocol
devices and services a commercial reality by providing interoperability testing between its WAP-enabled UP.Link
Server and WAP-encoded browsers produced by handset manufacturers.
The first company to begin testing its
proprietary browser with the Unwired Planet server is WAP Forum co-founder Nokia Corp.
According to Ben
Linder, Unwired Planet vice president of marketing, the interoperability tests mark a milestone in the WAP
development process.
“I think it’s a big step,” he said. “This is the last step in the product
cycle,” before coming to market.
The UP.Link Server is the gateway providing access to WAP-compatible
Internet sites as well as an application platform that extends e-mail, organizer functions and voice mail to phone users.
Phone manufacturers that have developed their own microbrowsers for WAP first must ensure those browsers can
communicate effectively with the server in order to make use of WAP functions.
Other manufacturers, including
Nokia, have created their own WAP-compatible servers as well.
The interoperability testing takes place through
Unwired Planet’s Interoperability Lab, accessible via the World Wide Web. Through the lab, Unwired Planet is offering
test sets manufacturers can use to test their browsers with the UP.Link Server.
“We have a huge (effort) going
to really push this functionality into handsets,” Linder said.
Unwired Planet also offers the UP.Browser, which
manufacturers can license for their handsets rather than createtheir own. Unwired Planet announced 20 wireless phone
manufacturers have licensed the microbrowser, including Alcatel, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung, Siemens AG and Sony
Corp.
Linder said Unwired Planet is committed to ensuring a wide variety of handsets from several manufacturers
will be available this year with WAP capabilities. This is critical for WAP to be successful, he added.
The
interoperability testing with Nokia and others should be completed in a few months, Linder said. He expects WAP
phones and service to be commercially available this spring in Europe. Global System for Mobile communications
operators Telecom Italia and Omnitel in Italy, Telenor in Norway, SFR in France, Orange plc in the United Kingdom
and Telstra in Australia are testing the WAP solution.
In the United States, Unwired Planet has worked with Code
Division Multiple Access carriers Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. Commercial WAP availability in CDMA
networks is not expected until later this year.
Progress has been reported outside the WAP handset area as well.
Nokia announced it is prepared to supply end-to-end WAP solutions to “several network operators,” which
are expected to begin testing WAP-based services this year.
