Dutch companies, Comsys and 3G Media Consult (3GMC), have introduced a new variant of the SpeechFrame telephony platform to the market in the shape of SpeechFrame mobile. As well as interactive telephony services, SpeechFrame also offers the possibility to send video-images in an easy way to mobile phones, says the companies.

SpeechFrame makes it possible to combine the distribution of video-images to mobile devices with interactive telephony sessions. For instance, payment for the content can be related to a certain paynumber, or a free usercode can be entered. Apart from that, additional messages can be delivered together with the video-images such as: "this video is offered to you by....", which will then be possible as well on the mobile phone.

SpeechFrame Mobile also has a database functionality so that monitoring and operational support are possible over the internet, by e-mail, sms or fax. Next to that SpeechFrame offers advanced technologies like speech recognition and text-to-speech. Moreover, the platform is very flexible and can easily be expanded; this is important because the market for mobile entertainment and mobile video services is still in an early stage. SpeechFrame Mobile is based on open standards (VXML/JAVA) and completely web-based.

Hans Stapel, manager marketing and sales at Comsys: "SpeechFrame Mobile is an authoritative solution, also unique in the Netherlands. The combination of telephony services with video is highly promising. Organisations can easily make their video publications interactive. Services offered through mobile internet can be used directly on the IVR (Interactive Voice Response system). In short, SpeechFrame increases the efficiency and control of applications."

Gerrit-Jan Konijnenberg, Managing Director at 3G Media Consult: "The idea for the new platform development arises from our practical experience. Publishing video content (MPEG or DVD), through operator portals as well as direct-to-consumer, will be supported. This offers new opportunities for mobile marketing and mobile advertising. SpeechFrame Mobile is an important step ahead in the area of mobile streaming video, and a confirmation of the leading position of Comsys and 3GMC in this fast expanding market."

RUNNet joins over 400 universities and research institutions already using Cogent bandwidth

Cogent Communications, a multinational Tier 1 Internet service provider, has announced that RUNNet, the federal network of universities across Russia, has selected Cogent as its Internet service provider.

The network will be connected to Cogent through Cogent's point of presence in Amsterdam.

Cogent's IP network spans over 46,600 Km and has over 85 points of presence in 12 countries.

RUNNet was put in place to provide Russian universities with a best-of-breed communications links to the Internet to facilitate the exchange of curriculum materials, studies and research data, and help RUNNet collaborate on research projects with other Russian and foreign universities.

"We needed a large amount of bandwidth to exchange large volumes of data reliably between our universities," said Yury Izhvanov First Deputy Director RUNNet. "After evaluating several providers, Cogent proved to be one of the best and the most cost effective solutions. Since so many American university networks like The Quilt, SURA, OARnet, MichNet are already connected to Cogent, it became an obvious choice for us."

"Cogent has had significant success as the Internet Service Provider of choice to the university and scientific research community in the US and Canada. It is a natural progression to extend this reach into other parts of the world and we are proud to welcome RUNNet on our network," said Dave Schaeffer, CEO of Cogent Communications. "The value of Cogent's pricing for Tier 1 Internet service provides the university community with ample bandwidth to meet the most cutting-edge and demanding needs of research today, without engulfing their IT budgets."

Ericsson was selected sole supplier by Serbian mobile operator Mobtel to modernize the company's network introducing its mobile softswitch solution and successfully completed its commercial launch.

Ericsson mobile softswitch will further enhance coverage and capacity in Serbia and will meet operator's need for rapid and cost-efficient growth. The deliveries started on August 2005 and the commercially implementation completed successfully on October.

Bo Anderson, President Ericsson Serbia and Montenegro, says: "As the world leading supplier of mobile technologies, we are delighted to provide our softswitch solution to one of our major partners, strengthening our relationship with Mobtel and, at the same time, leading the way to layered architecture services in Serbia."

Goran Vasic, CTO, Mobtel says: "This solution will enable Mobtel to expand, enhance and further upgrade our network in the most efficient way."

"As Ericsson has proved its leading position in this specific field and as we have a long term cooperation with Ericsson, we once again choose Ericsson as our supplier," he added.

Ericsson's mobile softswitch is the first step in the evolution to an all-IP network. By introducing a layered architecture, with centralized operations and a common flexible core network, Ericsson mobile softswitch ensures a common foundation for new consumer services.

Company signs games deal with Jumbuck for Europe, Israel and South Africa

Selatra, the global distributor of mobile Java games, has announced that it has secured key publishing rights in an exclusive six-game, premium title deal with Jumbuck Entertainment, a leading mobile entertainment provider. 

The deal allows Selatra to distribute the six games to mobile content retailers in Europe, Israel and South Africa as well as to six European network operators.

Four of the six games Jumbuck has created are based on titles licensed from Viacom Consumer Products, two from the highly successful 'Star Trek' stable and two from the world of motion pictures:

The Star Trek games are:
* The award winning_ Star Trek, The Birds of Prey and
* Star Trek, The Cold Enemy

Both Star Trek games combine original music and classic storylines from the series, first-class colour and sound effects and a mix of primitive and advanced alien weaponry to create unique and thrilling game-play.

The motion picture games are:
* Cult film classic, Black Rain - The Revenge and
* Shaft, Sharp Shooter

The deal also includes:
* Ryan Giggs International, starring the popular English Premier League player, Ryan Giggs, licensed from Icons Digital Ltd and
* Indy 500, licensed from ESPN.

Michael Gilley, Content Manager at Selatra, said the high calibre deal emphasised the company's commitment to bring the very best mobile content to an ever-expanding global audience: 

"We help developers big and small, tap into a potential audience of over 200 million subscribers worldwide," said Gilley.  "This deal continues our commitment to offer the highest quality branded games to our customers in the mobile environment."

Adrian Risch, Jumbuck Entertainment CEO, said Selatra was top of his list when it came to exploring European distribution channels for Jumbuck's premium games:

"We chose Selatra because it means our games will be marketed, released and distributed professionally through a vast distribution channel we have previously not had access to," said Risch.  "Selatra's reputation for high quality in the industry is unparalleled and their network allows us to reach our key customers quickly and efficiently," he said.

All games are available on GSM and 3G networks. 

Pricing and complexity are key barriers to mobile data uptake

A new NOP survey in the UK, commissioned by Olista, the service experience assurance company, has revealed that users who encounter problems in using new mobile data services will simply give up rather than seek assistance.

According to the survey of 1000 adults carried out in September 2005, 64% of those who had actually tried to use a mobile data service such as picture messaging, ring tones and gaming downloads confessed that they would give up trying after one or two attempts. A mere 2% claimed that they would actually seek assistance from their operator or content provider and 25% said they would carry on trying until it worked.

The survey follows on from research conducted earlier this year, also commissioned by Olista, that revealed that 77% of phone users have never used any mobile data services, and of those that had, only 12% professed to be completely satisfied with the experience.

The focus of the latest research was on understanding how mobile data users react to poor user experience. According to Oren Glanz, CEO of Olista, "The findings make salutary reading for mobile operators, content providers and ISPs seeking to increase the take-up of mobile data services. The monies that they are investing in call centre and self-care solutions are not working, as mobile phone use is often an impulsive activity and the majority of the public are not prepared to continue trying or seek help when the services fail to work."

When quizzed on what would encourage them to use more mobile data services, lower prices and easier to use services were top of the list with 53% and 43% of respondents, whilst 32% also felt that better help and advice at point of sale would influence them positively.

"The survey highlights the need for a proactive approach to customer care. Operators need to be able to discover a mobile data problem before the customers know about it and contact them to solve the issue or they face them never returning to the service again" states Glanz. For example by contacting a subscriber about a failure such as a MMS that did not reach its destination and explaining how to fix it before the subscriber is even aware of the problem the operator can turn the customer's experience into a positive one. It should never be too late to assure service experience and understanding the mobile content experience from the end user's point of view can be the key to ensuring customers use your service again".

Users of data services on GSM/EDGE mobile networks are generating increased monthly revenues (ARPU) for operators. New GSA research confirms that ARPU for EDGE-enabled device users is typically 20% higher than for GPRS users, and in some cases reaching 33% and up to 100% higher. The pattern of higher ARPU for EDGE users is consistently higher over a period of several months.

These are some of the key conclusions from GSA’s Survey of Commercial GSM/EDGE Operators, which was completed in October 2005. The survey, which collected information from EDGE operators worldwide with at least 6 months commercial experience, also showed how services requiring higher data rates are benefiting from EDGE capabilities, such as video streaming – including mobile TV, video and audio clip downloads, etc. Higher speed using EDGE is preferred by laptop users for mobile office applications, with access to corporate intranet systems being a key point. EDGE speed, flat rate pricing and packaging are a winning combination and strategy.

EDGE is attracting more customers to become mobile data users. Operators agree that EDGE helps to prepare the market for 3G where WCDMA is not yet available, and improves the user experience when deployed as a complement to WCDMA.

Alan Hadden, President, GSA commented on the survey conclusions: "Focusing on the quality of the user experience is the key to success in data services. EDGE users consistently spend more than on GPRS. Data ARPU for EDGE users grew 3 times faster than on GPRS on some networks. EDGE users are more likely to subscribe to an unlimited data price plan to enjoy a better Internet and intranet experience, thereby boosting ARPU. As GSM/3G evolves to HSDPA (High Speed Data Packet Access) and wireless broadband, we expect the same effect to be repeated."

Many operators also reported continuously growing data usage, with EDGE network’s capabilities heavily contributing to this. EDGE is boosting high-speed data usage especially for mobile broadband services, and mobile TV over video streaming. Some operators reported 17- 20% off total data traffic. It was also seen how EDGE is impacting on network traffic, with transmission expansion already foreseen by some operators.

GSM/EDGE is mature and global. According to recently-released GSA analysis, more than half (169) of 290 commercial GPRS operators globally have committed to EDGE. Commercial services enabled by EDGE have been launched on 116 networks in 70 countries. EDGE is operational, under deployment, or planned, in 91 countries.  At least 55 operators offer or plan delivery of 3G services on combined EDGE/WCDMA networks ensuring lower capital cost, optimum flexibility and efficiencies and the best user experience; 23 networks offer commercial services today on combined EDGE-WCDMA networks.

Saab Group and Finnish outsourcing company,TietoEnator, have agreed on strategic IT partnership. TietoEnator will during the agreement period 2005 -2009 deliver IT infrastructure services for Saab Group in all of its operating countries. At the same time, TietoEnator and Saab have decided to pursue a joint venture called TietoSaab Systems Oy in Command and Control business in Finland by combining TietoEnator's current Defence business and Elesco Oy, owned by Saab.

The strategic partnership with Saab strengthens TietoEnator's position as one of the leading outsourcing IT service providers in the Nordic countries and at the same time opens up new business possibilities. This agreement also deepens and broadens the cooperation between TietoEnator and Saab. TietoEnator's integrated global service model will be in international use, since Saab has operations in Europe, South Africa, Australia and the United States.
 
The contract is based on flexibility in volumes and thus offers Saab high quality and cost efficient IT operations in different stages of development of the core business. The total order value based on the current estimate of volume growth is close to EUR 80 million. The annual value will grow in stages during the agreement period. Of Saab's close to 12,000 end users TietoEnator currently serves 6,000. Cooperation starts by building a common scalable platform for Saab's core IT services and continues by transferring Saab's internal IT services onto the new platform as separately defined projects during 2006. The agreement is for four years starting November 2005 with a rolling option to extend it by two years.
 
"This is an important step for Saab to further improve the cost efficiency of our IT Systems", says Roger Sundberg, Corporate IT Manager at Saab.
 
"Through this agreement we have succeeded in guaranteeing Saab the freedom to develop its business while controlling its IT support and costs also in a changing business environment. Saab is a strongly internationalising company which allows us to apply TietoEnator's fully integrated global service model", says Ari Karppinen, President, TietoEnator Processing & Network.

Danish operator TDC Mobil has extended the 3G network contract it originally signed with Ericsson in 2002. Ericsson continues to be TDC Mobil's primary supplier of WCDMA network solutions and related services.

Robert Puskaric, President  of Ericsson Denmark,  says: "We are  very proud of the trust we have  built with TDC, which is demonstrated  in TDC Mobil's decision to extend  our cooperation in 3G. Together  with TDC, we will continue working on  3G solutions that bring the  latest services to the users in the Danish market."

The contract  extension confirms  Ericsson's leadership  in  3G/WCDMA networks; Ericsson has a 35 percent  market share in the GSM  family, including WCDMA. Ericsson is also  the market leader in Denmark,  and is the only vendor to supply all three WCDMA networks in the country.