RESTON, Virginia, United State—Nextel Communications entered a licensing agreement with Qualcomm for the further development and deployment of Qualcomm’s QChat software, which is designed to provide push-to-talk functionality on CDMA networks.
Motorola, which is the infrastructure provider for Nextel, will help integrate the overall solution for use in CDMA networks and will develop specific enhancements to cdma2000 to ensure fast call setup, mobility management and iDEN interoperability necessary for Nextel’s Direct Connect service. Motorola will also have the international marketing rights for the enhanced Direct Connect product.
The service is expected to enable push-to-talk functionality over wireless CDMA networks using a voice-over-Internet Protocol (IP) architecture and support dynamic management of group membership by subscribers, enabling users to add and remove participants at any time on their handsets.
Nextel President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Donahue said the agreement is an important milestone in the carrier’s eventual migration to a next-generation platform and that when Nextel makes a third-generation technology choice, Motorola will receive at least 50 percent of the infrastructure and handset business.
