Mobile-messaging company Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced the commercial deployment of a new messaging service.
Dubbed the Versera Intelligent Communications Environment (ICE), the service has been deployed in Atlanta, where MetroPCS has used it since May. The announcement marks Glenayre’s most significant effort since the former paging company underwent a massive restructuring that saw it cut its work force by half in 2001.
While Versera ICE is designed to allow carriers to address present-day needs, Glenayre Messaging Division President Bruce Bales said its allure is the flexibility it offers as carriers upgrade their technology.
“Versera ICE helps carriers build intrinsic relationships with their subscribers by enabling the rapid deployment of applications that will help carriers survive and thrive in today’s pervasive wireless culture,” Bales said.
Industry observers said the service is indicative of an increasing willingness on the part of carriers to invest in more forward-looking infrastructures. With mobile-phone penetration nearing saturation levels, carriers are desperate to hold on to customers, even if that means spending money on newer technologies.
“Carriers want to create loyalty,” said Ron Gruia, a senior strategic analyst with Frost & Sullivan. “They need a platform that will allow them to add services and change provisions very quickly.”
And because it’s anybody’s guess what wireless users will want in the future, carriers must have the flexibility to offer a wide range of applications and services. Live mobile videoconferencing may be the sexy high-tech application of tomorrow, but something as simple as missed-call notification-informing a user of a missed call after his handset has been out of service-can be just as useful for the consumer, and just as lucrative for the carrier.
Although it once appeared likely to be just another casualty of the collapse of the paging industry, Glenayre has risen off the canvas and redefined itself. In addition to its relationship with MetroPCS, Glenayre’s customers include Nextel Communications Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc., as well as second-tier carriers such as Cricket, U.S. Cellular Corp. and Dobson Communications.
Glenayre hopes to have another carrier using Versera ICE in the next few weeks, said Bales, and is negotiating with a third.
