Barney Robison Blog

TOKYO — NTT DOCOMO, INC. and its eight regional subsidiaries today announced a service that will enable DOCOMO FOMA? third-generation handsets to connect to home broadband networks via wireless LAN routers, allowing mobile phone users to enjoy 54 Mbps high-speed packet communication and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), beginning in June.

With Home U?, Japan’s first consumer service for fixed-mobile convergence, DOCOMO FOMA phones will be able to download large-volume data, such as video, with the speed and convenience of broadband.

VoIP calls to other Home U users will be free of charge, and to non-Home U users will be 30 percent cheaper than normal FOMA charges.

Initially, the service will be compatible with the N906iL onefone?, a mobile/W-LAN dual handset that will be sold from the same day that the service starts.

The monthly charge for Home U will be 1,029 yen. No signup fee will be required.NTT DoCoMo Inc. (NYSE: DCM) Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — HelloSoft, Inc., the world’s leading provider of VoIP/IMS/VCC technologies for wireline and wireless devices, announced today the launch of HelloMobileCommunicator-FMC(TM) for Nokia’s E-Series devices. The S60 Platform (formerly Series 60 User Interface) is a software platform for mobile phones that uses Symbian OS. The S60 is currently amongst the leading smartphone platforms in the world. It is developed primarily by Nokia and licensed by them to other manufacturers.

With the S60 being the world’s most popular software platform for smartphones, HelloSoft has been diligently working on the S60 platform to bring Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) to Next Generation Networks (NGN).

HelloMobileCommunicator-FMC is a standards-based complete solution enabling mass-market deployment of low-cost and power-efficient fully featured handsets. HelloSoft’s award-winning and commercially deployed comprehensive SIP-based VoIP technology Read more

DUSSELDORF, Germany — The VoIP-Provider sipgate is

currently making mobile VoIP affordable for everyone – via Dual Mode Mobile Phone (GSM/Wifi) and is offering the ‘Pirelli DP-L10′ for a sensational GBP59(i). Because of its free SIM-lock, the Pirelli can be used by any cellular customer. Orders can be placed at sipgate’s Online-Shop at http://www.sipgate.co.uk/shop for everyone even for those who

are not sipgate VoIP customers.

On one hand, the ‘Pirelli DP L10′ is a GSM-Triband mobile phone, on the other hand it is a VoIP telephone which permits a mobile Internet telephony via WLAN. Therefore, up to five WLAN-Hotspots can be securely set up. Users can decide at the push of a button whether or not to converse via cellular or the less expensive VoIP. Incoming calls are automatically signalized by both networks. If no WLAN hot spot is available, calls to the local number of the VoIP account can be fowarded to the mobile Read more

BARCELONA — Cisco?today announced that it will showcase mobility applications that promise to change the way people connect, collaborate and access entertainment on the move. These services represent a strategic opportunity for service providers to profitably address customer demand to access information and stay connected anytime, anywhere.

“Never before has it been so important that all mobile content and data be delivered instantly across technologies to users globally with the same quality we have come to expect from wireline access,” said Larry Lang, vice president and general manager of the Service and Mobility Business Unit at Cisco. “Our desire for on-the-move connectivity has seen a marked growth in the demand for streaming visual content and applications that allow us to collaborate more effectively when on the move. Teaming with a number of industry players, we are enabling service providers to deliver compelling new services that allow Read more

LAS VEGAS and GAITHERSBURG, Md. — NextPoint(TM), a leader in fixed-mobile connectivity (FMC) solutions, today announced it has added significant new mobility-enabling features to its Integrated Border Gateway (IBG) product suite, bringing combined or distributed edge-to-edge IP session management solutions to fixed and mobile operators. The company, already in lab trials with Tier One operators in North America, Europe and Asia, will demonstrate the mobility-enabled IBG at CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas.

NextPoint’s IBG, which was announced to the market in 2007 as the industry’s first product consolidating best-of-breed Session Border Controller (SBC) capabilities with the market-leading Security Gateway (SeGW), now includes an IP Mobility Suite that provides Packet Data Interworking Function (PDIF) to support Code Division Multiple Access or CDMA-based operators and Tunnel Termination Gateway (TTG) for Global System for Mobile (GSM)- and Universal Mobile Read more

BARCELONA — An independent survey by Tango Networks(tm) of 300 European

enterprises, investigating enterprise attitudes towards fixed mobile

convergence, has revealed some surprising findings. Despite operators

showing little interest in the enterprise market over the last few

years, 34% of enterprises consider mobile operators to be their “natural

choice” when it comes to FMC implementation.

Conventional industry thinking suggests that the enterprise market

opportunity has passed mobile operators by, with the fixed telecom

equipment providers in pole position to capture FMC business. However,

Tango Networks’ survey findings reveal that 52% of European enterprises

believe mobile operators are capable of delivering an effective FMC

solution; a further 31% are undecided. Only 17% of enterprises have

written mobile operators off completely.

“This survey sends a Read more

LAS VEGAS — Agito Networks, Inc.(TM), the company pioneering new technology in enterprise mobility, today from Interop Las Vegas 2008 announced new, innovative business-class enterprise fixed mobile convergence (eFMC) functionality in the latest version of its award-winning RoamAnywhere(TM) Mobility Router (http://www.agitonetworks.com/products).

RoamAnywhere will be demonstrated in Agito Networks’ booth No. 2266 this week at Interop Las Vegas 2008, and in the Agito Networks suite in the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

With Agito’s RoamAnywhere Mobility Router, for the first time enterprises have a stateful high-availability eFMC architecture available to them, which ensures high-performance, business-class resiliency and availability for mobile voice. Continuing to enhance users’ voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) experience, RoamAnywhere natively integrates with Cisco Systems’ Unified Wireless Network family. Another industry first, RoamAnywhere Read more

STOCKHOLM — Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) has been selected by TELE Greenland as Core IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) supplier to deliver integrated fixed and mobile convergent services. Ericsson’s Core IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) will be employed to develop TELE Greenland next-generation offering.

IMS-based services enable communication through various media – such as voice, text, pictures and video, or a combination of them – adapted to each individual’s preference. Ericsson’s IMS solution supports a common service environment and allows TELE Greenland to implement flexible and scalable advanced services.

IMS also represents the evolution of converged mobile and fixed-control networks to all-IP, bringing significant cost advantages and providing flexibility to support broadband services.

Jorn Jespersen, CTO TELE Greenland, says: “Ericsson’s extensive IMS experience will enable us to improve time-to-market, provide our Read more

NEWBURY PARK, Calif. — Nomadix, Inc.

(www.Nomadix.com), a leading supplier of intelligent network devices

and interconnect services for guest access, digital cities, and carrier

HotSpots, is working with Telefonica Peru to deploy a web of

‘coexisting’ Internet HotSpots and municipal meshes. The service is

targeted at Telefonica Peru’s high number of mobile professionals, and

will function as a pay-as-you-go Roaming IP service to all subscribers.

“Telefonica Peru’s coexisting Wi-Fi networks will provide an

unprecedented level of mobility,” said Fernando Jimenez Motte, Internet

Product Manager of Telefonica Peru. “Nomadix gateways are known for

their flexibility, reliability, scalability, and ease-of-installment.

The gateways are also rigorously secure, which is of the utmost

importance to our financial services customers.”

Telefonica Read more

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Boingo Wireless, Inc., the world’s leading wholesale network aggregator and operator of neutral-host Wi-Fi networks, today announced the closing of its Series C funding. The company raised $65 million from new and existing investors to secure long-term working capital and to underwrite the recent acquisition of Concourse Communications.

“Our progress as a company and the value we’ve created over the last few years has been validated by the private equity markets through a significant up-round that was oversubscribed,” said David Hagan, President and CEO of Boingo Wireless. “The funding we’ve raised will allow us to strengthen our position as a global brand leader in Wi-Fi, and take advantage of new opportunities that we believe will surface in this dynamic market sector.”

Boingo Adds New Investors

The funding was led by Mitsui & Co. — with new investors Mitsui Corporate Development Read more