A new body called the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) was created at the recent GSM World Congress in Cannes, a move that will focus on uniting Wireless and the Internet.
The MWIF will provide a venue for service providers and suppliers to work together to identify and resolve issues surrounding the development of key specifications and to enable early implementation of Internet Protocol (IP) wireless networks.
These specifications will allow for common infrastructure and services independent of air interface, and will enable seamless integration between mobile telephony and non-traditional IP-based services such as data, voice, video and multimedia applications. One much talked about application is WAP (Wireless Application Protocol).
Gary Cousins of Siemens Telecommunications in South Africa says that the forum promises to aid in the deployment of WAP technology in South Africa by accelerating the implementation of open, Internet-based standards for mobile wireless networks.
"The forum will assist in recognizing additional requirements and trends more rapidly and to implement them to benefit customers," he comments.
Siemens, in partnership with Phone.com, is one of the founding members of the MWIF forum. Siemens and Phone.com have reported considerable success with WAP solutions, which are already in commercial use in more than ten countries. More than 20 GSM operators in Europe and Asia are using the complete WAP solution from Siemens and Phone.com.
Cousins states that internationally, Siemens is a leader in WAP technology. "Phone.com's quality software and time-to-market lead will enable Siemens to offer WAP capability to our broad customer base of over 140 network operators in over 70 countries."
"Siemens is currently conducting trials with the identical Phone.com WAP solution for cellular network operator Vodacom, and these trials should be completed during the first quarter of this year," he concludes.
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