BlackBerry® solution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) From du, Alcatel-Lucent and Research In Motion.

Paris, June 2, 2008 — du, Alcatel-Lucent and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® solution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). du customers will now be able to enjoy the benefits of enhanced communications and increased productivity by using a Blackberry® smartphone to access email, browse the web, make phone calls, send and receive text and picture messages, as well as access a wide variety of business and leisure applications on the move.

“As an integrated telecom services provider, our goal is to offer our customers the most advanced telecom solutions and the best possible user experience. Integrating email services and data on the mobile phone is a natural step for du. We selected BlackBerry smartphones because they provide the leading wireless email solution used by millions of customers around the world,” said Osman Sultan, CEO of du. “Access to email and calendar information on the go has become essential for business people. Launching the BlackBerry solution is an integral step to enrich our portfolio of integrated communication solutions to meet the market needs in the UAE”, he added.

Based on its distribution agreement with RIM, Alcatel-Lucent is leveraging its strong local presence in the region to provide du with the end-to-end implementation, integration, launch and support services for delivering the BlackBerry solution to the UAE market. With Alcatel-Lucent managing integration and deployment, du can focus on delivering customer facing services, enabling the operator to quickly meet market demand.

“Our agreement with RIM further reinforces Alcatel-Lucent’s ability to leverage our global strengths and local presence to deliver enterprise managed communications and value-added services, enabling the operator to quickly meet market demand. As a result, du customers will enjoy the freedom and flexibility of the BlackBerry solution for staying connected to communications and information whenever they wish,” said Frederic Rose, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities Europe, Africa and Asia.

“Together with Alcatel-Lucent, we are pleased to extend the availability of the BlackBerry solution to du customers,” said Charmaine Eggberry, Vice President and Managing Director of RIM, EMEA. “The BlackBerry solution is a great choice for organizations and individuals that strive to be more productive, flexible, and ultimately more successful in work and life.”

At launch du will offer the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8300, BlackBerry® 8800, BlackBerry® 8700g and BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100 smartphones, as well as BlackBerry® Enterprise Server and BlackBerry® Internet Service.

BlackBerry smartphones available from du
The BlackBerry Curve 8300 is the smallest and lightest full-QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone. Its stylish design incorporates a large display and a range of advanced multimedia features, including a 2 megapixel camera that comes complete with 5x digital zoom, built-in flash, self-portrait mirror and full screen viewfinder. The BlackBerry Curve 8300 makes it incredibly easy to stay connected to the information and people that matter most.

One of the smallest and lightest smartphones on the market, the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 packs the power and functionality that users have come to expect from a BlackBerry smartphone. Beneath its sleek and stylish exterior, this award winning smartphone supports powerful communications and rich multimedia capabilities, which has made it popular among business users and consumers alike.

The slim and stylish BlackBerry 8800 smartphone is designed to satisfy the needs of demanding mobile professionals. It includes a full, highly tactile QWERTY keyboard with a range of features including built-in GPS, a multimedia player and an expandable memory card slot. The large, high resolution screen, with its automatic light sensing technology, makes viewing email, the Internet and other applications a pleasure.

The sleek and elegant UMTS-enabled BlackBerry 8700g includes a wide range of communications and connectivity features together with a full QWERTY keyboard. It can also be used as a wireless modem for laptops, offering mobile professionals more flexibility in how they stay connected.

du will enable customers to connect through BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which tightly integrates with IBM Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® and works with existing enterprise systems, to enable highly secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate applications.

For individuals and smaller businesses, du will offer BlackBerry® Internet Service, which allows users to manage up to ten supported corporate and personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts) from a single device.

Tags: Mobile Communications, du, Alcatel-Lucent, Research In Motion, RIM, BlackBerry, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8300, BlackBerry® 8800, BlackBerry® 8700g, BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100

Alcatel-Lucent Grabs NXTcomm Eos Awards For Its Technology Innovation And Achievement In Three Categories

Paris, June 2, 2008 — Alcatel-Lucent has won NXTcomm Eos Awards for its technology innovation and achievement in three categories by a NXTcomm panel of judges.

Two of the awards were in the Technology Innovation segment. Alcatel-Lucent won the NXTcomm Eos Award in the Backbone/Edge category for its FP2 IP Service Routing and Traffic Management Silicon, and in the Wireless Mobile Technologies and Applications category for its Geographic Messaging Services Platform.

Under Special Technology Achievement, Alcatel-Lucent earned the NXTcomm Eos Award in the Strategic Support Solution category for its IMS-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for consumers that it deployed, including network design and integration, with a major service provider.

The Eos Awards will be presented at NXTcomm (exhibits June 17 – 19), where Alcatel-Lucent will demonstrate all three technologies in booth 3116 in the Upper South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Earning Eos Awards in three categories highlights the breadth and depth of Alcatel-Lucent’s portfolio and experience in developing new technologies, software and services and bringing them to market to solve our customer’s business challenges,” said Tim Krause, chief marketing officer, Americas business, Alcatel-Lucent. “Our thanks to the NXTcomm organizers and the Eos Awards judges for the time and consideration they gave to this selection. We are very honored that they selected Alcatel-Lucent, recognizing our leadership in these rapidly developing areas of network technology.”

Named for the Greek goddess of dawn, the NXTcomm Eos Awards honor those exhibiting companies that have developed the most promising new technologies or provided the best new network services and strategic support and for ongoing achievement.

“This year’s Eos winners demonstrated the best and most promising advancements to the network-enabled voice, video and data ecosystem,” said Wayne Crawford, NXTcomm Executive Director. “We congratulate Alcatel-Lucent for its leadership, innovation and role in driving our industry forward.”

Alcatel-Lucent’s winning submissions were the following:
FP2 IP Service Routing and Traffic Management Silicon

Announced in March 2008, the new FP2 chipset is a breakthrough in silicon innovation. The result of a three-year development effort, and representing the fourth-generation chipset from one of the industry’s most experienced teams, Alcatel-Lucent’s FP2 silicon delivers sophisticated and optimized network processing and traffic management at speeds up to 100Gb/s and provides a clear path to 100 Gigabit Ethernet, vastly improving Return on Investment (ROI). The Alcatel-Lucent FP2 silicon also provides the foundation for one of the most advanced service routing portfolios on the market delivering an unrivalled combination of bandwidth, performance, feature depth and scalability in a single routing platform, effectively providing the fabric for IP network and service transformation for all of our customers.

Geographic Messaging Services Platform
The Geographic Messaging Services Platform (GMSP) is a next-generation location-driven platform and set of applications that leverage the advanced functionality of today’s mobile networks and devices. Following user opt-in, GMSP tracks the user’s locations and preferences, based on fixed and moving ‘GeoFences’, and automatically delivers location-relevant multi-media content, where and when appropriate. Featuring innovative Bell Labs algorithms, GMSP is ideal for next-generation mobile applications such as location-based marketing and social networking, ‘kid tracker’ applications, and other opt-in mobile applications developed by service providers and third parties. GMSP was invented by Bell Labs, commercialized within Alcatel-Lucent Ventures, and will become part of the award-winning Messaging Suite in Alcatel-Lucent’s applications portfolio.

IMS Consumer VoIP
Alcatel-Lucent partnered with a major service provider to integrate and deploy an IMS-based solution that enables new Consumer VoIP service that unifies the subscriber’s communication experience across triple play services (voice, broadband and TV) over IP. Alcatel-Lucent provided the technology and network design, deployment, integration and maintenance services. The service is commercially deployed, providing a differentiating triple-play service in a competitive market. The IMS solution, which implements attractive subscriber applications, economic scaling, and proven interoperability, also enables the creation and launch of additional advanced services.

Alcatel-Lucent, globally, has more than 30 IMS customers and has supplied more than 60 customers with IMSapplication servers and services.

InfoComm08, the leading audiovisual business-to-business marketplace. For more information, go to www.NXTcommShow.com.

Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Contact the Alcatel-Lucent Press Office: press@alcatel-lucent.com

Tags: telecom industry, NXTcomm Eos Awards, Alcatel-Lucent, IMS-based VoIP, IP Service Routing, Traffic Management Silicon

fring for Nokia S60 devices (Symbian 9), de-bugged, improved & enriched!

We have written about Fring for a long time here and it continues to give us information to write about and enhancements to it's users, Fringsters. If you did not know what Fring is an application for your mobile devices, which allows you to communicate with landline, mobile phones and other “fingsters” over mVoIP. Fringsters can communicate with contacts using SkypeOut and other SIP providers, Google Talk, MSN messenger, and Twitter, all via a single integrated contact list.

According to a post on Fring Blog, Fring for Nokia S60 or Fring for Symbian 9.X devices, Fring 3.35 has been released after being de-bugged, enriched, and improved. The version 3.35 has apparently improved stability, significantly less interruption, logouts, better quality voice all round. So if you are a Fring user you should be a happy person. This version also an added speakerphone for Symbian 9.2 if you have it, Like Nokia N95. You also get file transfer enabled on Yahoo! and Skype allowing the swapping of all sort of files like, music, images and video over 3G or Wifi from mobile to PC, mobile to mobile, without need for Bluetooth, MMS, and cable or infrared.

The easiest way to update your fring version is to point your mobile internet WAP browser at www.fring.com and download fring directly to your mobile.

If you find any bugs or other annoyances you can help Fring and other Fring users by sending Fring the information.

Tags: mVoIP, mobile Voip, Fring, Fring Blog, Fring for Nokia S60, Fring for Symbian, Nokia N95, mobile to PC, mobile to mobile

Tata Teleservices Deploys Location-based Service In India With Qualcomm's Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technology.

Technologies from Qualcomm and TeleCommunication Systems Enable Advanced LBS Services, Allow for Pinpoint Positioning in Urban and Rural Areas -

San Diego,CA-- Tata Teleservices, India's fastest-growing telecom service provider, today announced that it will commercially deploy a new location-based service that is the first to use Qualcomm's Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technology in the Indian market. The service leverages Qualcomm's QPoint(TM) solution and gpsOne(R) chipset technology, with hosting services from leading wireless communications provider TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) (Nasdaq: TSYS). The service is expected to be available on multiple handsets from Tata's catalog and deployment is expected in late 2008.

A-GPS technology will provide Tata with a differentiated LBS service, as it improves on previously deployed cellular LBS services in India in terms of both performance and reliability. Conventional Cell-ID-based solutions rely solely on base stations for positioning, which can equate to less than optimal functionality in areas where cellular signals are compromised. Tata's A-GPS service leverages triangulation with cellular base stations and satellite-based GPS for precise position location in both rural and urban environments, including inside buildings and structures.

"Tata's dedication to providing its customers with advanced, rich wireless services was initially evident in our implementation of CDMA technology and now can be seen with our deployment of LBS applications based on A-GPS, which provides advanced and reliable wireless navigation technologies for enriched services," said Pankaj Sethi, president of value added services and enterprise marketing, Tata Teleservices. "With Qualcomm and TeleCommunication Systems' technology and services, Tata customers will benefit from a greatly improved LBS experience on their handsets."

Tata's service will leverage Qualcomm's QPoint and gpsOne solutions, which together deliver a complete, integrated mass-market solution for enriched location-based services. Using these technologies to leverage the capabilities of A-GPS allows developers to easily create precise, reliable and compelling location-based applications. Tata plans on working with the local developer community to create both consumer and enterprise LBS applications. Consumer navigation will include friend finder and social networking applications, while enterprise customers will benefit from asset and fleet tracking applications.

"With this announcement, Tata has once again proven to be a global leader by providing advanced LBS services based on A-GPS," said Arvin Chander, vice president of global carrier relations for Qualcomm Internet Services. "Tata is working with a strong community of content providers who understand the market and have the tools to create a range of precision LBS applications."

TCS provides proven precise location technology for in-network deployments or via world-class hosting solutions. For Tata, TCS will be hosting its Xypoint Location Platform that includes a Position Determination Entity built upon the aforementioned QPoint technology from Qualcomm.

"Adding to our commercially proven location deployments in Asia and worldwide, TCS' solution for Tata underscores our strategic commitment to the Asia-Pacific market," said Joe Hannan, vice president of location products for TCS. "We are proud to be an integral partner with Tata in offering differentiated services to the dynamically expanding market of India."

Tata Teleservices is one of India's leading private telecom service providers. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses the latest CDMA 3G 1X technology for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices along with Tata Teleservices (Maharastra) Limited, operates in more than 5,000 towns across 19 circles i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The company has a customer base of more than 25 million.

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (Nasdaq: TSYS) produces wireless data communications technology solutions that require proven high levels of reliability. TCS provides wireless and VoIP E9-1-1 network-based services, secure deployable communication systems, engineered satellite-based services, and commercial location applications, like traffic and navigation, using the precise location of a wireless device. Customers include leading wireless, cable MSOs, and VoIP carriers around the world, and agencies of the U.S. Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security.

For more information, visit www.telecomsys.com.

Qualcomm Internet Services enables mobile retailing solutions and Internet services that accelerate consumer adoption and usage of mobile data worldwide for its operator, brand & affinity and content provider customers. BREW(R) is a comprehensive solution for customers seeking to bring high-value wireless services to market and enhance the mobile experience for consumers. Customers also can benefit from a portfolio of adaptable, modular products that can be used to address specific mobile retail challenges from general merchandizing to personalized recommendations.

Qualcomm Incorporated (http://www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Qualcomm is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2008 FORTUNE 500(R) company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market(R) under the ticker symbol QCOM.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the extent and speed to which QPoint and GPSOne are deployed, change in economic conditions of the various markets the Company serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2007, and most recent Form 10-Q.

Qualcomm, BREW and GPSOne are registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. QPoint is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Tata Contacts:
Rajeev Narayan
Tata Teleservices Ltd
Phone: +91 9212105151
Email: rajeev.narayan@tatatel.co.in

Suroor Hussain
Tata Teleservices Ltd

Rajeev Narayan (rajeev.narayan@tatatel.co.in)
Phone: +91 9212105151

Tags: location-based service, Qualcomm, TeleCommunication Systems, A-GPS, QPoint, gpsOne, Tata Teleservices, cellular LBS services, CDMA, VoIP, E911, Homeland Security

Microsoft’s “Echoes” To Make Telephone Numbers Disappear!

“Right now the mobile phone, the desktop phone, the e-mail that you have on the PC, or instant messaging, these are all very different things, and the issues about how much of your information or your schedule, your current activity you share with people who communicate with you is not well designed…. By bringing together all of these kinds of communication, we can greatly simplify them. We can get rid of phone numbers, have it so when you say you want to contact someone, based on who you are and where that person is, they can decide whether to take the call or take a message about that, and so a great efficiency improvement that can be made there.”

Yes that is a statement by Mr. Bill Gates, from one transcript of an early May speech Gates gave in Japan.
But exactly how Microsoft plans to make phone numbers disappear? Yes I thought about that as well but Mary Jo Foley has found out. Microsoft is going to use Microsoft’s “Echoes” services platform for telcos to do that. But at the end you might end up with a number! one from Microsoft.

Tags: phone numbers, Microsoft, communication, Microsoft’s Echoes