For all the play Voice over Internet Protocol snags in the wireless
arena, a new and broader technology is lurking to gulp it up. Media over packet
technology, as it is called, will also threaten to make multimedia messaging
services obsolete. But its arrival may take another decade, according to
experts.
“MOP is the next-generation of VoIP,” remarked Neta
Weinryb, director of marketing and business development for Surf Communications,
one of the players enabling the birth of this protocol. “Most VoIP players
are finding ways to move to media over packet.”
Some of the other players
include NMS Communications, Texas Instruments Inc. and Audiocode Inc.
The
players are quick to distinguish between MMS and MOP. MMS is designed for
devices, while MOP sits in the gateway province of the network. MMS is not
essentially an IP technology, and MMS players use solutions from MOP, said
Weinryb.
“This is an indication that IP is the building block to move
beyond voice,” said Jon Arnold, VoIP leader with Frost & Sullivan. He said
carriers will use voice and will ultimately be free to market the other services
like video, which require more bandwidth.
TI and Surf signed a deal that
allows Surf to write its MOP algorithms on TI’s digital signal processor. This
will sit in network gateways and allow networks to convert all signals to IP for
onward transmission to the handsets. The deal will cover voice but also fax,
modem and video. Surf, which came into being in 1996 as a fax and modem company,
added video to its services this year. Arnold said Surf’s addition of fax to
IP-based services will be a boost to enterprises, especially in the Wi-Fi
area.
He said the TI/Surf deal will bring more horsepower.
“MOP is more
of a gateway and infrastructure, not so much a handset solution,” said
Maria Ho, product manager for infrastructure solution for TI. “The whole
idea is to accomplish it on TI’s DSPs.”
Major infrastructure players like
L.M. Ericsson, Siemens AG, Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc. are driving the demand
for MOP because of its ability to offer dynamic services, which include picture
and video download, music and other such applications.
Much of what is
available in the market is circuit-based, explained Brough Turner, senior vice
president of technology at NMS. NTT DoCoMo Inc., one of the major carriers
pushing such services, has 5 million subscribers for its third-generation video
download services, which are circuit switched. Such services also abound in
Korea and Europe.
NMS said it cooperates and competes with some of the other
companies in the MOP space. As a provider of enhanced MOP services, it uses TI’s
chips, Surf’s algorithms and partners with LogicaCMG and Ericsson for system
integration of mobile applications like ring backs and video. In the
applications area, it competes with Comverse Technologies Inc. The company
focuses on public networks rather than data centers or enterprises.
As the
leader of DSP in the world, TI sees itself in a position to dominate not only
the provision of MOP products in the gateways, but also in the handset market.
But the chipmaker first has to contend with other firms like Freescale
Technologies, Analog Devices and Broadcom Corp. because they also have
DSPs.
Although VoIP companies may eye the MOP business, the transition will
not be easy, explains Weinryb.
“They have to change their platforms,
rewrite parts of their codes and move from one DSP type to another,” she
noted.
MMS graduated from short message service, and while they can boast
these services, they lack the capacity for the high-volume sessions, explained
the experts. MMS also works between phones and not deep in the
network.
“If you are an MMS gateway company, you will need some MOP in
your solution,” remarked Weinryb, adding that MMS companies are looking to
add DSP to their solutions.
But VoIP has not advanced in the mobile world, a
condition that will enhance the value of MOP. Turner said companies like Avaya,
Nortel Networks Ltd., Alcatel and Siemens turned industry interest in this
direction when they developed IP, but did not train their sales forces.
“They flipped to VoIP in 2003,” he explained.
This has triggered
interests in various forms of voice services like push-to talk, session
initiation protocol-phone services and Vonage Softphone. Some carriers like AT&T
Corp. with Voice Advantage and cable players like Cox are rolling out VoIP
services.
“We may see 2004 to 2005 as the inflexion point,” he said,
adding that the provision of bandwidth will be a key factor in bringing MOP to
consumers.
