GSMA's video share trials in China prove successful
16 June 2006
16th June 2006 - London - Mobile devices from Ericsson, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Siemens successfully shared live pictures across an IMS network in a recent trial run by the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for mobile operators, and hosted by China Mobile in Beijing. The success of the trial is a major step towards ensuring that the next generation of multimedia services will work smoothly across equipment from different suppliers.
The trial is part of an ongoing GSMA programme testing the interoperability of services between terminals from different suppliers using the technical and commercial principles developed under the GSMA's SIP and IMS Interoperability Work Programme. The trial, which was conducted over an IMS network from Siemens, is one of several Video Share* tests being conducted on IMS systems provided by Nokia, Ericsson, Alcatel, Huawei and Lucent and hosted by leading operators around the world.
The success of these trials provides reassurance to mobile customers and the industry of a high level of interoperability for future services using IMS systems and the GSMA's IP interworking principles. This will mean that end users will be able to enjoy easy-to-access and easy-to-use multimedia services, with a fully reliable service experience whether voice, data or video.
"This latest phase of the GSMA's programme of interoperability trials is yet more evidence that the work undertaken by the industry to ensure that devices, infrastructure and networks are interoperable in advance of a wide-scale deployment, has been successful," said Alex Sinclair, the GSMA's Chief Technical Officer. "This gives operators, vendors and end-users tremendous confidence in advance of the wide-scale deployment and should result in a rapid take-up of new services, such as Video Share."
Madam Zhiqiang Yang, Deputy of the Research Institute of China Mobile Communications, described the trial's success as a long-term indicator of the exciting business opportunities for operators. "China Mobile was very happy to support this significant contribution to the development and testing of interoperable Video Share by the terminal and device vendors. The prospect of a high quality user experience using these new Video Share services is good news for our customers."
The programme sponsor, TeliaSonera, has been actively involved in the SIP/IMS programme from its inception in 2004, encouraging the participation of global market leaders and the timely progress of the trials. GSMA Board Member Håkan Dahlström, Group Vice President, TeliaSonera said: "Service interoperability is essential for our customers and therefore is a requirement for any communication service. Video Share is a good example of an IP communication service creating a clear customer benefit. As a leading contributor, we are happy to see our joint efforts in the GSM Association's IMS/SIP trials facilitating the development of IP multimedia services".
The companies involved in the trials are planning a major series of service interoperability demonstrations at the 3GSM World Congress Asia in October. Vendors will be showcasing the very latest service possibilities live on local networks at this conference and exhibition. In addition, a comprehensive seminar dealing with all aspects of IMS related services and IP interworking is planned. For more information on this please visit www.3gsmasia.com.
About the GSM Association
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 690 GSM mobile phone operators across 213 countries of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members serve almost 2 billion customers - 82% of the world's mobile phone users.
Notes for editors
* Video Share allows one of the participants in a voice call to send live video of what they are looking at to the other participant. Operators expect Video Share to be a highly popular service used by people to exchange everything from live video postcards on holiday to footage of a school sports day to video of a house for sale.
The operators participating in the trials series are as follows: China Mobile, Cingular, HK CSL, Jersey Telecom, KPN, Orange, Smart, SmarTone-Vodafone, Sunday, Telefonica Moviles, Telenor, TeliaSonera, Vodafone K.K. (Softbank) and TMN Portugal
SIP - Session Initiation Protocol
IMS - Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem groups.
For further information contact:
David Pringle
GSM Association
Tel: +44 795 755 6069
Email:press@gsm.org
The GSM Association is a global trade association representing more than 680 mobile phone operators in 213 countries.
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