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Plenary - Boundaryless Information Flow:
Wireless Data Summit


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Allen Brown, The Open Group
Welcome and introduction

Kouji Ohboshi, NTT DoCoMo
Mobile, broadband, ubiquitous networking and information renaissance.

Rupert Reid, ARC Group
Enabling the Mobile Workplace

Mark Briers, Manx Telecom
Isle of Man 3G Showcase - One Year On

Dr. Won-Sic Han, KT
Broad Band Mobility via PWLAN

Dr. Terry Ahn 
New Business Group, KTF

2002 KTF Mobile Internet Service Update

Ryan Jarvis, CEO Megabeam
Delivering Wireless LAN Services Across Europe

Morning Panel Session

Richard Paine, The Boeing Company
Secure Mobile Architecture

Giles Allain, Symbian
Platforms for Enterprise Mobile Computing

Amy Mokady, Qualcomm
BREW and the Enterprise Market

Mike Short, Vice President, Technology O2, Chairman MDA
An Introduction to MDA

Emil Sturniolo, NetMotion Wireless
PCCA Overview

Mikko Riepula, Wificom
Roaming through the Pass-One Association

Afternoon Panel Session

Mike Lambert, The Open Group
Closing Remarks


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Introduction

Allen Brown - President of The Open Group

Allan Brown welcomed attendees to the Wireless Data Summit and outlined the structure of the day. Following the keynote presentation from Mr. Ohboshi of NTT, during the rest of the morning participants would hear from an industry analyst and four service providers. The afternoon session will add the customer perspective, from Richard Paine of Boeing, the view from platform vendors before bringing together representatives of other consortia working in the same area. to understand their views and activities. 

Allen them welcomed the keynote speaker, Mr. Ohboshi from Japan. Ohboshi-san presided over NTT Docomo in the role of chairman during the phenomenal growth of I-mode, the most successful roll out of any wireless data activity. He is now a strategic advisor to NTT Docomo.


Keynote Presentation - Mobile, Broadband, Ubiquitous NW and Information Renaissance

Kouji Ohboshi -Strategic Advisor to (and former Chairman of) NTT DoCoMo

 


Mr. Ohboshi described how he developed the business of NTT Docomo, the impact of IT on the Japanese economy and the likely impact of ubiquitous broadband access in the future.

Mr. Ohboshi started by explaining the challenge of using IT to vitalize the Japanese economy and creating new markets.

The average GDP growth  in Japan between 1997 and 2000 was only 0.7% compared to 4.2% in the USA. Operational improvement through the use of IT should yield a surplus to invest in market creation. Increased use of IT in E-Japan should benefit suppliers, users and consumers and result in new employment. 

In terms of market size, Business to Consumer E-commerce is expected to grow by a factor of 20 between 1999 and 2004 to exceed 6 trillion yen in 2004. Revenue in Business to Business E-commerce will grow to more than 160 trillion yen in the same period, through the implementation of E-Japan and the broad availability of broadband connections.

There are 4 major strategies to make Japan a world class IT country.

  • Focused investment in ultra high speed internet networking
  • Optimal rules for E-commerce
  • Introduction of E-government
  • Utilize IT in all aspects of school education

Although large Japanese companies are reluctant to invest in IT, the aggressive schedule for E-Japan is fixed because it is funded by the government.

Mr. Ohboshi expressed confidence that the introduction of IT into government will trigger new growth in the Japanese economy.

According to the Swiss Based IMT, Japanese companies have fallen to 30th in the world in terms of International Competitiveness. This is due to a lack of a "challenging spirit" and entrepreneurship. Japanese companies have been repeated the same mistakes. A breakthrough is necessary.

Mr. Ohboshi then went on to describe the way in which he approached the creation of the mobile phone market in Japan and the way he applied socio-economic theory to achieve market growth.

The first mobile car phones were launched in 1979, but market take-up was very slow. In 1992 Docomo was split out from NTT as a separate company.

In then 1990s, Japanese people were becoming more affluent.

  • According to the "Homo Movens" theory, mobility increases as people become more affluent. Statistics showing the travel pattern of Japanese and the number of overseas visitors to Japan support this.
  • According to Abraham Maslow, as people become more affluent, there is a decrease in materialistic desire and more emphasis on mental wealth. This is supported by statistics showing the reduction in the number of people engaged in agricultural and manufacturing and an increase in those involved in service and information related industries.

Understanding these trends provided a basis for the decisions which built NTT Docomo.

An initial ABC analysis revealed 3 major problems which needed to be overcome to grow the mobile phone market:

  • The mobile phone service started as a car phone service and that meant that our network was quite linear. 
  • The price of mobile phones was very expensive and the tariff was 3 times more expensive than in the US. 
  • Mobile phones were very heavy (in excess of 600 grams). 

Within 18 months these three problems had been addressed, with a more 3 dimensional service, smaller phones and a reduction in tariffs by a factor of 3. The result was explosive growth in number of subscribers and revenue.

By 1996, the growth curve was flattening out as the market approached saturation and more importantly, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was dropping. With strong competition and almost identical services from different suppliers, the only competition was on price. Something new was needed to reverse the trend. 

The I-mode service was conceived to address the demand for information .. mental wealth, by connecting the mobile service to the internet.

For NTT Docomo this represented a business shift from volume to value-added.

The operating model is the same as for the Walkman and the Game Station. People don't purchase the hardware along .. their major value is in the music and entertainment.

Mr. Ohboshi concluded by looking forward to an Information Renaissance stimulated by ubiquitous broadband connection.

In Japan there is already an optical fiber service from NTT and other companies. E-Japan will result in 80% of households having a 50-100 Mb connection by 2005 with an always-on service for $20-$30 (per month).

Broadband offers higher capacity and lower price. The virtual world becomes closer to the real world (e.g. Video conferencing, TV learning systems). Broadband will change information society in many ways.

Broadband will enable ubiquitous networking, which is very important. Just like the invention of printing in the middle ages spread knowledge beyond the aristocracy and stimulated the Renaissance, ubiquitous networking will break down barriers and create a Renaissance of the Information Society.

Medical world can access information about hospitals. Medical world know who is better than the others but don't disclose. In general there is information owned by suppliers is much greater than available to consumers. This will change in the future.  Broadband and wearable mobile phones will eliminate barriers of time and space. Information and knowledge will spread in a flat horizontal manner to everyone.

The Japanese economy is in recession because information is kept by top management. Young people with new ideas are not given enough information to utilize their talent. The ubiquitous network will collapse pyramid organizations and create horizontal organizations allowing young people to use their creativity.

In future TV will become more interactive,. Viewer will be producer of information as well as consumer .. they will become "prosumers". 

In universities, knowledge is currently owned and monopolized by professors. Pyramid organization of universities will collapse.

I hope that activities such as The Open Group will facilitate the ubiquitous network which will stimulate the intellectual interest of the general public and pyramid organizations will collapse.

NTT itself is becoming bigger. It is  becoming more difficult to be creative and make fast decisions. Venture companies will have more opportunities in the new world. SOHO is creating a big market in the information Renaissance. Lifetime education will become more unimportant.

In the future we will create a new market, a new economic zone in Asia to exchange information to create an intellectually rich and affluent world. That is what we have to do as management of big companies. To establish infrastructure we need to rely on younger generations and the talents of organizations like The Open Group.

Q&A
Q Do you see extending some of your business practices beyond Japan, into Africa and South America
A I am a bit too old to create such a global strategy. I will leave that to the next generation.
Q What is happening between the academic world and industry in the areas of horizontal organization, knowledge and information sharing.
A NTT has an active  exchange with Silicon Valley and Stanford Univerity. Unfortunately in Japan we are very inactive in terms of exchange between academia, industry and government. NTT established the Yokosuka Research Park. We have a facility for wireless and internet activity. We invite everyone to work together with us. We have a specific building for university use. We have been funding work in universities. We are working with Keio University on research for 4G.
Q How does the US consumer and the market in general differ from Japan
A In the US, the computer market has developed. There is a high penetration of PCs, so mobile internet access may not be needed in the US. The US telecommunications industry became number 1 in the world thanks to the work of AT&T. Mobile communication in the US is behind the rest of the world. 
Q Can you comment on the current debate surrounding Digital Rights Management.
A Historically, Japan is weak on rights. There is a social consensus that claiming rights is not the right thing to do. I know that Japan acquired a great deal of American technology in the past. This is an area where we have to learn from the US.

 

At the end of the presentation, Allen Brown presented Mr. Ohboshi with a special Open Cannes award as the first ever Japanese keynote speaker at an Open Group conference.

Mr. Ohboshi replied: "I am very happy to get such an honorable award. I have already retired as NTT Docomo Chairman and I am now 70 years old. My exciting days have gone, now a peaceful and quiet time has come. But, I continue to have interest in internet and information technology innovation and the changes in the information society. I believe in future such innovation will bring us happy and better lives all over the world.  Thank you very much."

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Enabling the Mobile Workplace

Rupert Reid - Publications and Consultant Manager, ARC Group

ARC is a UK based independent telecoms consultancy company. Rupert Reid gave a broad overview of how ARC sees the wireless data market evolving.

In 5 years time voice will still account for 2/3 of operators revenue in 5 years time and the key mobile application will still be messaging and internet access. In that period, there will be an enormous proliferation of mobile devices; telematics and end-to-end solutions have enormous growth potential.

Security and consistency of data are major strategic issues that need to be addressed at an enterprise level.

A recent survey showed that the main drivers and inhibitors to growth of wireless data are handset usability, availability of applications and interoperability standards. 

For the wireless data market to grow, there needs to be a paradigm shift within enterprises, so that mobility is integrated at a strategic level, and service providers need to provide cost effective and easy to use services and focus on ROI to the enterprise.

The presentation included a series of examples of how wireless technology can be integrated into various types of operation and concluded with ARC's view of how the market will evolve.

Future revenue models will be a mix of subscription and flat fee services.

Large companies in high technology, financial, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and courier markets will lead the way. SMEs and enterprises with large mobile work forces will form the early majority.

In terms of applications, key areas will be the mobile office, mobile workforce and enterprise solutions. B2C usage will drop from 83% to 54% of mobile services revenue by 2007; the major growth will be in B2E.

In summary, in the view of ARC, the critical success factors for realizing the mobile enterprise opportunity are

  • Optimize sales channels through partnerships along the value web that leverage each members strengths and existing routes to market
  • Educating enterprises and increasing market awareness
  • Transparent business cases and pricing plans
  • Use of basic messaging and communications related solutions as the first step on the ladder to creating incremental revenues by migrating customers along the mobile enterprise evolution path

and the key implementation issues

  • Scalability
  • End-to-end security
  • Reliability and consistency of service
Q&A
Q Are there any details about the participants in the survey that was presented?
A Majority of respondents were Western European respondents (70%). The make up was 30% operators, 40% from handset/device manufacturers and 30% from other groups.
Q Key enablement issues are all being addressed by MMF. Which of 3 is most important?
A End-to-end security is the key, but is important to take a holistic approach?

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The Isle of Man 3G Showcase - One Year On

Mark Briers, 3G Project Director, Manx Telecom

 

The Isle of Man is a small island in the middle of the Irish Sea. It was chosen to become the testbed for 3G technology, with the advantage of a manageable geography, a supportive government and a supportive parent company (o2).

It represents a microcosm of larger markets, an opportunity for cost effective learning and a showcase for partners (information, equipment providers etc.). Manx Telecom has a history of early roll out of new technology.

The 3G network was installed during December 2001 and July 2001. 28 nodes provide near full-island coverage. Alpha and beta trials took place in September 2001 and October 2001.

The presentation included a promotion video showing what has been achieved to date, including video on demand, high speed internet access and innovative interactive applications (such as a location based information service).

The project press launch was on December 4th 2001.

Customer trials included 200 single mode devices (i.e. 3G only). The technology worked well .. the main issue is how to make a business out of the service. During the trials, the service was free of charge. Charges were introduced from August 2002.

The 3G showcase applications included video telephony, on-line games, live and archive video, location services, information services and mobile office. At least parts of many of these applications can be and are being delivered satisfactorily on GSM and GPRS. 

The presentation included additional information about several application areas:

  • Mobile TV
  • A mobile business application toolkit
  • Virtual financial assistant
  • Mobile access to medical records
  • Taking the retail channel to the customer - car sales
  • Mobile field access, a Manx Telecom application that has improved productivity of field technicians by 41&

In summary, Manx Telecom sees 3G as a gradual evolution from their existing 2G and 2.5G services. The showcase yielded very positive press and analysts comments.

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Broad Band Mobility via PWLAN

HAHN, WON-SIC Ph.D., Managing Director, Fixed Mobile Convergence Business Department Marketing Group, KT

 

Dr. Won-Sic Hahn, presented plans and current status of the deployment of a public Wireless Lan service.

Korea is a world leader in broadband data, with 53% of the world's connections. KT has almost 50% of the Korean market, largely through its DSL connections. 

To develop the market, KT identified an opportunity between the existing wired broadband service (with high throughput and low mobility) and the CDMA wireless service (with low throughput but high mobility). Home, office and hot spot based wireless LAN services provides high throughput with some mobility. There is estimated to be a market for more than 4 million subscribers of such a service by 2006.

The motivation for KT to create the service is the raid growth of both mobile phone services and internet usage and a growing demand from high-end power users for high-speed and reasonably priced internet service, together with the development of smaller, smarter terminals.

The business objective of the KT-NESPOT service is to meet the increasing demands for mobile internet access through the convergence of fixed-line broadband and mobile internet access. The framework is a combination of xDSL + Wireless LAN for  indoor wireless internet and W-CDMA for outdoor mobile internet.

KT is well positioned to deliver this service, with a large target marker, existing xDSL network, cheap access point technology and a back-end service to handle security and authorization. As of September 2002, more than 5000 hot spots were in service, with another 7000 planned by the end of the year. Target locations include university campuses, exhibitions centers and theaters, shopping centers, hotels, coffee shops banks etc.

By developing the NESPOT business model by convergence of wired and wireless, KT Group will provide broadband mobility solution for home, office and hot spot users, will give roaming service with KT mobile service players for mobile users and support the introduction of applications and services in support of mobile users. 

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2002 KTF Mobile Internet Service Update

Dr. Terry Ahn, New Business Group, KTF


Dr. Terry Ahn presented an update on mobile internet services in Korea and the relationship between the functionality of handsets, the kind of applications supported and the revenue to to KTF.

KTF was founded in 1997. It is 40% owned by KT and has a 33% share of the Korean wireless market. 65% of the Korean population now have a cellular phone; in the 25-35 age band this is 98%. 

The KTF  mobile internet service has evolved from interactive SMS in 1998 to the launch of 3G in the middle.

KT have used their wireless internet services to maintain ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). 

  • 1G 
    2% data ARPU
  • 2G - "Magic"
    Top 5 applications: Ringtone downloading, character downloading, picture downloading, internet access, mail
    7-9% data ARPU
  • 2.5G - "Magic Multipack"
    User friendly, icon interface
    Top 5 application: Theme Park, Karaoke, VOD Player, Online games, Internet adult TV
    18% data ARPU
  • 3G - MMS, Video on Demand

The key to success is delivery of value to customers .. "Fast, Easy, Fun and Useful".

KT was an early mover with the launch of Data Services in 1998 together with data enabled handsets and the basic infrastructure for the mobile internet. Handset functions were defined by KT, not by the manufacturer.

The key elements of success were effective marketing and promotion, effective customer training and a large number of content and service providers.

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Delivering Wireless LAN Services Across Europe

Ryan Jarvis, CEO Megabeam

 

Megabeam is a pan-European wireless LAN hotspot provider, having deals with 12 airports across Europe. growing to about 18 by the end of 2002, with service across 11 countries. Together with roaming agreements, this gives Megabeam a unique footprint, with 500 locations across Europe, focused entirely on the business traveler. Megabeam is looking at a wholesale model, selling service through existing service providers.

Customer opportunity: Early adopters belong to multi-national corporate customers, who have issues with high cost and low speed of dial-up and GPRS. Such companies have the technology and capability and are able to support VPNs.

Specific needs

  • Easy to use, one subscription, works everywhere (in Europe)
  • One stop shop, multiple bearers from one provider
  • Control, security

Business travelers need to connect from

  • Travel hubs (airports, major rail stations) .. short term synchronization
  • Destination (hotel, conference center) .. office-like IT environment

Does this satisfy all corporate needs? No

  • Wireless LAN is high speed, low cost, laptop oriented
  • GSM/GPRS, works outside wireless LAN locations albeit at slower speeds smaller device oriented

Forecast for subscribers to wireless LAN in Europe is about 100,000 now, growing very quickly.

How will corporate customers set about buying wireless LAN services?

  • Via existing service providers as a move towards 3G
  • Incumbent telecom operators are rolling out National networks
  • IT service providers are taking the lead, with aggregators of wireless access 

To many corporate customers, wireless LAN access looks more like an IT service than a telecom service.

Market ecology developing where corporate service providers, rather than wireless LAN service providers are best placed to sell the service in the long term. Wireless LAN operators have taken the lead in deployment.

In summary, the wireless ISPs represent an opportunity to corporate service providers because they already have the agreements with locations and installed infrastructures.

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Morning Panel Session

 

Q In Korea has there been competition between cellular and wireless LAN services? 
A (Terry Ahn) The customers are the same. Wireless LAN can give customers an experience of wireless data. It took 3 years to grow usage of mobile data on existing services to 50%. 
Q Presentations showed examples of applications targeted towards the youth market. How will you build applications that are more attractive to adults and business class users?
A (Terry Ahn) Korean market is different. There is little prepaid usage and little business usage in Korea. Possible applications for the business market include eMail. 
(Mark Briers) On the Isle of Man, we sold what we had .. every business user is also a consumer. We do need to sell what the customer wants. Field force system is operating in the right direction.
Q Could you comment on changes in behavior of users when adopting the services being presented? (e.g. Time of day, duration of use).
A (Mark Briers) Usage of WEB browsing  is high, partly the service was free. People using the service physically at different locations. No dramatic changes in time of day yet. There is an opportunity to change behavior to get use of the radio network 24 hours per day.
(Ryan Jarvis) The finding that surprised Megabeam was the amount of data people shift when they have access to a wireless LAN network. Usage in rail stations is higher than expected .. from people sitting on trains.
Q Have you started to introduce pricing for the service in the IOM and what impact did that have on usage.
A (Mark Briers) We created a number of pricing packages, initially charging by the megabit, although the billing system allows for other options, including service quality. People are curtailing their usage within a fixed package .. as a result, we are now providing a fixed price package to encourage usage. 24% of trial users signed up when charging was introduced. When the "flat top" approach was introduced this grew to 50%.

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Secure Mobile Architecture

Richard Paine, The Boeing Company

 

Richard Paine introduced the vision of the MMF any data over any network to any device.

The MMF has developed an architecture for session management using a client server architecture to maintain state across multiple bearers. The Secure Mobile Architecture activity builds on this work.

2000/2001 deployment scenarios:

  • 3G to 3.5G to 4G programs, high mobility, increasing speed
  • W-LAN emerging as a lower mobility fill-in
  • Devices are converging, PDAs are becoming phones, phones are becoming PDAs.
  • Future promise is video telephony with sufficient resolution/speed to see facial expressions and hand movements. This is possible with W-LAN.

Boeing strategy:

  • Vision of design anywhere, build anywhere. That requires mobility. 
  • Moving to voice over IP. 
  • Wireless LANs are central to the Boeing strategy. 
  • Seamless link to cellular services are needed for fill-in and when people go off campus.

Wireless LAN background:

  • 802.11a/b developed at the same time. Introduction of 802.11a was delayed because of technology constraints. 
  • 802.11b growth has been phenomenal. (Microsoft has 3700 APs, Boeing has 1000 APs).
  • There are outstanding problems with security and QoS, these are bring worked on.

Deployment plans in Boeing:

  • 802.15 Bluetooth .. not strategic but must be supported
  • 802.11b Heavy use now .. lond lifetime expected
  • 802.11a Deployment at 100 Mbit in 2004

Expecting to see convergence of cellular and WLAN with seemless transition between networks. There are a number of projects already in progress, mostly driven by the service providers.

Seamless Mobility Deployments: The goal is a distributed IP-based infrastructure with rapid seemless service deployment. This needs to support transitions between all kinds of networks, including staellite, wide area, neighborhood, in-building, personal. The most important one to focus on is that between WANs and WLANs.

This leads to the fundamental requirements for a Secure Messaging Architecture

  • Mobility management with both the server (Session Management) and protocols
  • A secure protocol set to make seamless mobility viable
  • Policy-based secure selection process for which location, network entitlements, bandwidth are delivered

There are many that need to be addressed

  • Privacy
  • Address transparency (E.164 to IP address)
  • Mobile Security
  • Lack of consensus on information model and how to use it
  • Existing focus on static networks
  • Mobile Network Architectures
  • Network Management of Mobile Devices and Mobile Networks
  • Mobile VOIP
  • QoS in the Mobile Environment

The requirements are captured in the "Executive on the Move Scenario" developed by the MMF, which includes secure communications over:]

  • WLAN in office (is there a PAN in the office?)
  • Cellular in taxi
  • #Airport Airline Lounge WLAN
  • Airport Infrastructure WLAN
  • Airplane WLAN

The vision is for a simple set of IP based protocols which include an integrated approach to security. Basic principles are

  • IP Only
  • Policy-based
  • Session Security
  • AAA based on Standards-based Network Statistics
  • SIP
  • Personal Firewall on Every Device
  • Host Identity Payload (HIP) – like (moving away from security based on MAC and IP address)
  • Network Statistics are Standards-based
  • Maximum data rate available
  • WLAN (Hotspot+Hotzone) and WAN (MAN+Satellite) are Mobile

Conclusions and recommendations

The Secure Mobile Architecture to be undertaken within The Open Group working with

  • DMTF for the Directory-Enabled Network (DEN) 
  • IEEE 802.11 for Radio Resource Measurement 
  • IEEE 802.11i for WLAN Security 
  • IEEE 802.11f for WLAN Secure IAPP 
  • Boeing groups working on Wireless Architecture and  VOIP Architecture 

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Platforms for Enterprise Mobile Computing

Giles Allain, Vice President, Partnerships and Alliances, Symbian

 

Giles Allain set up to explain where Symbian fits into enterprise IT strategy and how Symbian can help the enterprise.

Overall, the most important needs for enterprises for the operating platform for mobile computing:

  • Must be based on open standards .. enterprises don't want to invest in proprietary technologies
  • Availability of "future proof applications
  • Security and privacy of access for people on the move, plus on-device security
  • System management is crucial because of the number and distribution of devices
  • Closely and easily integrated into existing enterprise systems
  • Multi-processing capability to support concurrent applications, telephone calls etc.
  • Variety of form factors, input/output methods

All of these requirements are met by the Symbian OS.

The Symbian OS is open in 2 ways:

  • Technical openness .. published APIs and conformance with industry standards.
  • Strategic openness .. open licensing terms; partners have access to the source code if they need it. Symbian does not compete with its parners. It develops the OS, not hardware, not applications.

Key features includesd  to allow enterprises to deploy mobile devices, include 

  • secure network access
  • system management and synchronization
  • support for a wide variety of user interfaces and input/output methods
  • key applications, such as calendar, schedule, contacts, eMail
  • interoperability with variety of back-end servers
  • location services

Symbian started with non-interoperable PDAs and has developed to high volume, interoperable devices with a variety of form factors.

Symbian OS is becoming a dominant OS because it is working to build the features that enterprises need. It is jointly owned by a group of phone manufacturers and licensed by many other companies.

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Brew and the Enterprise Market

Amy Mokady - Director, Qualcomm

 

Amy Mokady gave an overview of the BREW system. She started by explaining that REW is substantially different to the previous presentation. The focus for BREW is getting data onto devices which are fundamentally mobile phones, the "device of last resort" that you will always have with you. 

BREW includes the complete end-to-end solution, including the back end information servers.

The first commercial implementation started in November 2001 in Korea, with KDDI and Verizon deploying systems in 2002. There are now 2.5 million BREW users worldwide, with more than 30 handset manufacturer parners.

BREW places great importance on application developers. Globally there are many ranging from enterprise applications to entertainment and games.

The market for BREW is the corporate mobile user with the following requirements:

  • The mobile world is most compelling when it is connected
    • Corporate users need access to their own data (phone book, presentations etc.) while on the move
    • Connected services ensure this information is up-to-date
  • Mobile data users need services not technologies
    • Corporate users want services that work reliably and give them access to all the information they need
    • Corporate IT managers want secure services that they can control
  • A compelling data service needs all the components to work well together, end-to-end
    • Simple user interface on the handset
    • Easy access to services, easy to add and remove services
    • Clear indication and transparency of costs
    • Compelling applications which are easy to use

To achieve this, the key components of a complete mobile solution, such as BREW are:

  • SDK and distribution for Application Developers
  • Application Download for End Users
  • Software Platform for handset manufacturers
  • Distribution System for Mobile Operators
  • .. all working together seamlessly

BREW allows company with a large IT department to make available access to enterprise applications. A very important feature is remote provisioning, which gives the corporate IT department the ability to download AND REMOVE applications and information. (So if the phone is lost, sensitive data and applications cane be removed).

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An Introduction to MDA

Mike Short, Vice President, Technology O2, Chairman MDA

 

Mike Short introduced the MDA, one of the supporting organizations of the Wireless Data Summit.

The MDA is a membership organization, with an extensive membership including all of the major wireless service providers,  that

  • Reflects the common voice of the mobile data industry.
  • Provides a credible point of contact for press and end users seeking further sources of information.
  • Connects end users with solutions which match their strategic and operational needs.
  • Exists as a forum for members to meet and share information on technical and business issues. 
  • Objective is to achieve growth in the overall mobile data market. 

Activities include

  • Monthly Newsletter
  • Mobile Data Guide 
  • Co-ordinate cross industry initiatives
  • Government Lobbying
  • Market Forecasters Day
  • Exhibitions and Conferences
  • Press and General Enquiries
  • Fully dynamic Website, 

The MDA operates the text-it campaign on behalf of the four GSM network operators in the UK, to promote and measure the use of SMS. One recent success has been the agreement of cross network short codes (especially useful in interactive TV shows using SMS for audience participation).

The success of the campaign is seen in the continuing growth of SMS traffic, expected to hit 60 million messages per day by the end of 2002.

These activities will be extended to WAP, which now enjoys 9 million messages per day. 

The main role of the MDA  is to bring out case studies and statistics. The WEB site has recently been relaunched. http://www.text.it 

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PCCA Overview

Emil Sturniolo, Chief Scientist, NetMotion Wireless
PCCA Board of Directors 

Emil Sturniolo gave a brief overview of the activities of the PCCA (Portable Computer & Communications Association), a long standing membership organisation formed in 1992, with a long list of members, primarily vendors.

  • Network/platform/technology neutral
  • Addresses technical issues in overlap of:
    Applications/content
    Mobile platforms
    Wireless devices
    Networks
  • Goal: broad-market easy-to-use, manageable, wireless solutions
    Standards documents freely available 

The PCCA has been responsible for some significant standards work, primarily in the area of communication to modems, with a recent focus on ensuring that the needs of wireless modems are reflected:

  • PCCA STD-101 reference design and standards for modem commands
  • PCCA STD-201 wireless extensions to NDIS (adopted by Microsoft in 1996)
  • Worked with Microsoft on Unimodem interface .. PCCA made recommendations relating to GSM and CDMA
  • Recommendations to MS re TCP/IP for service which is largely disconnected

Since 2000, PCCA has held quarterly technical meetings:

  • VPNs and Wireless, March 1, 2000 
  • The Impact of Internet Standards on Wireless Networks, May 31, 2000 
  • Wireless Device Interface Issues, August 23, 2000 
  • Mobile Management, October 18, 2000 
  • Wireless Data Interoperability, February 7, 8, 2001, Joint MCPC/PCCA Meeting 
  • GPRS Interoperability, May 23-25, 2001 
  • PDAs and Wireless Networking, August 23, 2001
  • Integration of Wireless Personal-Area, Local-Area and Wide Area Networks, January 16, 2002
  • CDMA2000, Wireless VPNs, Wireless Security, April 24, 2002 
    • Held in Bellevue, WA, hosted by Intel, examined how enterprise applications can best be used with GPRS and CDMA2000 1XRTT networks.
  • Enterprise Applications and Cellular Data Networks, July 17, 2002 
    • Held in San Francisco, hosted by Qualcomm, presented information about CDMA2000, BREW and the use of VPNs over wireless networks and wireless security issues in general

The next meeting will focus on the subject of Public Wireless Hot Spots (to be hosted by IBM in Raleigh, SC on November 6th 2002)

The PCCA Wiireless Workshop Task Force meets alongside the quarterly meetings and focuses on interoperability testing of all network components from the user/IT perspective.

A Memorandum of Understanding between The Open Group and PCCA has been agreed with the joint objectives of

  • Joint work to expedite the adoption of mobile computing
  • Hold joint meetings (whenever it makes sense)
  • Provide additional customer/IT perspective to PCCA efforts
  • Provide additional technical expertise and input to Open Groups mobility efforts

The first joint meeting is likely to take place in San Francisco in February 2002.

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Wificom as a Facilitator of Multilateral Subscriber Roaming through the Pass-One Association

Mikko Riepula, Managing Director, Wificom

 

Mikko Riepula presented the objectives and status of Pass-One, an association of Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs). Wificom is a founder member of Pass-One. 

The WLAN hot-spot market faces a number of problems:

  • Monthly eat-all-you-can subscription: not enough footprint
  • Any procedure which requires subscription/registration prior to use
  • ”Solutions” requiring installation of specific software on users’ computers
  • Outdoor public access: commercially not a feasible proposition outdoors, technically not possible to use indoors 
  • Reliance on hotspots where business users don’t congregate
  • Reliance on a single technology (WLAN)
  • Spotty coverage/discontiguous zones
  • Total investment borne by the WISP

There is a need for roaming between hot spots. Currently:

  • No mobile operators offer WLAN services to roaming users based on SIM authentication
  • Many service providers offer WLAN services to roaming users based on RADIUS proxying (esp. US)
  • No multilateral roaming framework for WLAN based on any authentication method.

The objective of Pass-One is to establish a framework for roaming between its current and future members.

Pass-One is concerned with end-user (i.e. authentication roaming), not with seamless handover between or within technologies/networks.

Pass-One works co-operatively with WECA, the technical standards body for WIFI interoperability. Pass-One is seeking to establish an easily recognized service mark for hot spots provided by its member WISPs. There is an opportunity for The Open Group in defining service standards.

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Afternoon Panel Session - Chaired by Emil Sturniolo

 
Q Together with a friend, I propose to create an IPv6 network via wireless LAN; a complete network across Paris, free of charge. Will generate business for content providers. No business case for network provider because people willing to share their network access. What do panel members feel about this kind of service?
A (Mikko Riepula) For true mobile services, the free community networks will not be a viable alternative because of local nature and uneven service characteristics.
(Mike Short) There are geographic differences. In Asia mobile is the first line, in Europe the second and in the US the third line (behind land-line and cable modem/DSL). Looking forward there will an increase in choice of lines and implementation will differ from country to country. Interoperability will be a challenge.
(Emil Sturniolo) Enterprises may not be prepared to allow their information to flow across fee pipes because of perceived security risks.
Q Earlier on Richard Paine illustrated a very rich scenario, the Executive on the Move. Here is an alternative scenario; when will someone help me. 
1) WLAN hotspot asks for authentication .. I don't know 
2) GPRS doesn't work
3) Regress to GSM
At the end of the month all of the bills come in. Everything seems out of control.
A (Mike Short) Quite a complex scenario. Lots of partial solutions. On the billing front, the WLAN companies don't have the experience that the GSM 
(Emil Sturniolo) I empathize. I carry multiple cards. To get coverage here I needed to go through GSM to my AT&T account. I also get lots of bills. The main issue is credentials management. We are never going to get to a single sign-on because of lack of willingness to trust security solutions.
(Amy Mokady) On the device front there will be some simplification with convergence and devices that can access multiple services. This does not solve the billing issue.

(Mikko Riepula) On the security side, there is a solution. VPNs must be used. Multiple subscriptions within a single technology domain is a problem.

Q A question for Pass-One. Are you far enough advanced to segment between the enterprise requirements and general consumer use?
A (Mikko Riepula) No. So far there has been no need for this. The current user is the corporate user.
(Richard Paine) In the enterprise, we are looking at our communications infrastructure that we support. If you do a seamless transition to another service, we would expect to be billed. To that extent I don't think there is a difference between corporate customer and consumer.
(Mikko Riepula) One difference is the "charge potential". We have been looking at charging more for VPN customers because that identifies a corporate customer. There is also the need to support Service Level Agreements.

(Mike Short) Some of the billing options are increasing. More and more carriers are providing on-line billing. Need to set priorities.

Q Requirements for Secure Mobile Architecture .. we need to get our vocabularies sorted out.
A (Emil Sturniolo) Part of the SMA effort in the MMF is the development of a vocabulary. The document does have a glossary. If we can solve this for mobile systems, static is just a special case.
The answer to this question extended to a discussion about security.

(Richard Paine) For enterprise users, the enterprise will assume responsibility for security.
(Emil Sturniolo) There seems to be a plethora of LAN authentication technologies. It is far too easy to obtain a MAC address.
(Mikko Riepula) It is not as bad as that in the WLAN world. Standard Radius authentication is used and if there is any risk that passwords have been compromised, the user can always change them. Recommend that we close the security loop with an SMS to a wireless phone.
(Amy Mokady) This does not address the problem if the mobile phone does not work.
(Emil Sturniolo) I cannot have a permanent GSM phone number because I don't have an address in Europe. 

Q What does QoS actually mean? Is this guaranteed bandwidth or is it application related.
A (Richard Paine) I need enough quality of service to deliver voice over IP.
(Amy Mokady) Based on the service that you are interested in. Issues around technical definition which is bandwidth related and customer needs.

(Mikko Riepula) Between two end points bandwidth and latency we can guarantee with certain level of probability.
(Mike Short) There are lots of trade-offs between quality and cost. Quality must be scaleable.

 

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Summary

Mike Lambert, VP & CTO, The Open Group


Mike Lambert offered his thanks to all of the speakers and shared in their disappointment, that there were fewer attendees than expected. He stressed the importance of the session to The Open Group of getting the input from Japan and Korea and getting the input from other organizations active in the same area.

The major problem was that the combination of fears over travel and the state of the US economy meant that a lot of people who would normally attend were unable or unwilling to do so. The information collected today will be fed into The Open Group. It will be made available to members of our Forums and more publicly through our WEB site and through WEBcasts.

Mike was very keen to build bridges with other organizations. The Open Group wants Boundaryless Information Flow between consortia. The Open Group already have some liaisons in place. Discussions are already underway with Pass-One and OMA; these relationships are important to The Open Group.

The relationships between cause and effect in the morning presentations was fascinating. In both Japan and Korea it was clear that a homogeneous service caused market growth. If we allow cross bearer roaming and hot spot roaming to become too complicated, customers will not use the services.

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