Motorola Inc. has unveiled what it describes as the first cross-technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular solution rooted in wireless networks. The announcement comes against the background of an industry search for a common standard for PoC even as the major players and the Open Mobile Alliance have not reached a consensus on the protocol.
Motorola said its solution will cover all major technologies, including GPRS, CDMA2000 1x and Wi-Fi networks.
“Before this product, it was not possible to do PoC across networks,” remarked Paul Sergeant, director of product marketing at Motorola’s softswitch division.
With this solution, customers of CDMA carriers like Sprint Corp. or Verizon Wireless can place or receive calls with customers of GPRS carriers like AT&T Wireless Services Inc. or Cingular Wireless L.L.C.
“Other PoC solution providers will need to match Motorola’s offering if they are to compete in markets, such as China, India and the United States, that support multiple mobile technologies,” noted Jason Chapman, principal analyst with Gartner Inc.
He also commented that Sonim Technologies Inc. and LG Electronics have edged the industry toward interoperability with their push-to-talk offerings already backed by all vendors. The solution will be in LG mobile handsets.
“We built upon existing open standards and then utilized our softswitching expertise and IP networking elements to develop this innovative cross-technology PoC solution,” said Murali Aravamudan, vice president and general manager, Winphoria division of Motorola’s global Telecom Solutions sector.
Sergeant said the technology is based on the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem, explaining further that it can transcend national boundaries.
Cross-technology enablement will boost market potential for PoC technology, but interoperability will remain a key issue, Gartner’s Chapman said.
“It means global PTT,” Sergeant said, “and if you have a buddy list in Germany, you can have a global PTT session based on IP between the two operators.” This also applies to Wi-Fi networks, he added.
Chapman said European operators looking for IMS solutions could be early adopters of the solution, adding that markets like China that support both GSM and CDMA also could find it attractive.
Sergeant explained, however, the IMS capability is an option to the core technology. “It can be a standalone or over IMS,” he noted. He said cross technology makes the PoC solution independent.
Aravamudan said, “It can be upgraded to enable future `push-to’ enhancements and functionality such as push to video.”
Motorola said the solution also allows operators to negotiate interconnection agreements by increasing roaming areas for subscribers.
The company plans to begin trials in the second half of this year, Sargeant said, but declined to disclose with whom and where.
Motorola supports the same protocols espoused by other major players like L.M. Ericsson, Siemens AG and Nortel Networks Ltd. Nokia Corp. is taking another route in what some experts believe may create interoperability obstacles with PoC.
“There are no final standards yet,” said Sergeant, “but there are directions, and they are towards PoC as an IMS service running over IP.”
In other PoC news, Motorola announced 12 customers in 18 countries have selected its PoC solutions for both CDMA2000 1x and GSM/GPRS networks.
The company named Malaysia’s Maxis Communications and Guam’s Guamcell Communications as two of the customers.
“The response from carriers in Asia for the Motorola PoC solution has been tremendous, with engagements under way across the region,” commented Simon Leung, senior vice president of Motorola and general manager of Motorola’s Global Telecom Solutions sector.
