pretty quiet in Calypsoland........
Redmond Tests Calypso Fixed-Mobile Convergence
News Publication Date: 20 March 2006
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By Rhonda Ascierto
A large software company in Redmond, Washington is trialing promising new fixed-mobile convergence technology from a tiny public US company, ComputerWire has learned.
Calypso Wireless Inc has developed a potentially breakthrough technology that enables seamless voice, video and data connectivity between different devices, including desktop VoIP phones and mobile handsets.
“The goal is to use your mobile handset as a remote control of sorts for all your devices, like your PDA, notebook and desktop,” said Akshay Sharma, chief technical officer of Miami Lakes, Florida-based Calypso.
Calypso’s patented Automatic Switching of Network Access Points, or ASNAP, server and client package provides seamless roaming between GSM-based cellular networks and 802-11-based WiFi networks.
While Calypso is not alone in developing seamless roaming, the company claims the most comprehensive and cheapest package, and last year won Frost & Sullivan’s WiFi Technology of the Year Award.
ASNAP is designed to integrate all wireless communication components without the big investment layout and costs.
The technology also boasts an intrinsic authentication system that permits roaming only between service providers with an existing agreement. And Calypso has developed a system for revenue settlements between s numerous carriers while the end user would receive just one bill.
But getting carriers on board will be a stumbling block, Sharma admits.
That’s a large part of why the first applications of ASNAP will likely be on enterprise campuses, Sharma said.
Since Calypso launched its ASNAP client software and server last month, the 50-person company has received “a ton” of enquiries from interested companies, Sharma said. Notably, a large software company in Redmond -- the Washington city that’s home to Microsoft Corp.
While Sharma was bound not to name names, he said “Redmond” was trialing a working prototype WiFi mobile phone with Calypso’s ASNAP client. The device is the result of Calypso’s 18% ownership stake in handset manufacturer RV Technology Ltd.
Last November, the phone’s chipmaker Intel Corp showed off the device at the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong. Last week, the device also was on show at Intel’s booth at the VON show in San Jose, California.
Now “Redmond” is trialing the device for its own on-campus use, as well as to explore potential offshoot applications, Sharma said. A trial of this type would take at least three months, he reckoned.
Enterprises could pre-set employees’ mobile phones or PDAs to automatically switch to either the lowest-cost or best available quality network during a call. On an enterprise campus, that likely would be between a cellular network and proprietary WiFi hotspots on site.
The Calypso server determines the mean opinion score of the call’s quality or expense, based on GPS coordinates when available or the location of a WiFi hotspot. This means enterprises could cut down on workers’ cell phone minutes, many of which are clocked on large company campuses.
No carrier deals with Calypso’s RV Tech phone have been announced, but Calypso has trial deployments with about half a dozen carriers in Europe, Asia and Latin America, he said.
For the device to actually be deployed, Calypso would need regulatory approval. In the US, it takes on average between six to nine months to get the regulatory green flag, Sharma said, but it varies from country to country.
Back in 2003, Calypso inked a $500m deal with China Telecom to roll out a similar device, from a now-defunct handset maker, this year. Calypso hopes to revise the deal now that it has the RV Tech device, Sharma said. Then again, China Telecom may end up going with one the country’s local dual-mode phone makers instead, he added.
So far, Calypso has successfully tested its client on about 15 different dual-mode Windows phones.
Because ASNAP runs on standard Windows mobile OS, the software could be ported on any Windows-based dual mode or quad-band device.
Calypso is currently in talks with UTStarcom Inc of Alameda, California to license ASNAP on one of its dual-mode, WiFI phones. Calypso also is negotiating with other OEMs that Sharma declined to name. But to date no deals have been inked.
This in large part is due to potential legal issues surrounding ASNAP technology, Sharma said. Calypso owns a patent for its cellular-handoff technology, and has another patent pending for satellite-handoff.
But other emerging wireless technologies, notably UMA, or unlicensed mobile access, and IMS, or IP multimedia subsystem, also promise seamless roaming – the basis of Calypso’s patent, Sharma said.
“Large carriers would rather out company just go away so they can just launch their UMA or IMS solutions without potential legal burden,” he said. “Our stance is, we’d rather partner with them than fight them legally.”
Of course, IMS and UMA trials already are underway. T-Mobile USA Inc, for example, is trialing GMS-over-WiFi roaming using a wireless UMA gateway from Kineto Wireless, Sharma points out.
Sharma’s ex-colleagues from his previous employer Siemens have actually asked why Calypso hasn’t “gone after Kineto on this market trial,” he said. “We are engaged to see how we can partner first, but then if we feel like our rights are violated, we will have to enforce them.”
While there have been no lawsuits filed by Calypso, Sharma said some large carriers are wary of licensing the company’s technology because it is patented and, therefore, presents a potential legal challenge, Sharma said. This is especially true in light of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd’s recent $612m settlement with patent house NTP Inc, he said.
“We’re the only company with an end-to-end seamless roaming solution from handset to server that is also backed by a patent,” Sharma said.
Of course, carriers also may not be too eager to use seamless roaming that will direct calls away from their own cellular networks, which they have invested in heavily, to WiFi networks, Sharma said.
“It’s not in Cingular or Verizon or Sprint’s best interest that you go with WiFi, which is next to free or free and bypasses their 3G spectrum and equipment,” he said.
Calypso’s ASNAP server costs about $10,000, while the stand-alone client software has a one-off cost of $40 per phone. The company’s RV Tech-Intel WiFi phone, the C1250i, retails for about $400.
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part of the following services:
Computergram - 20 March 2006
Wireless Weekly Review - 27 March 2006
and in the following industry sectors:
Hardware > Devices and Peripherals > Mobiles, Hand-Helds, PDAs, Smartphones
IT Policy and Strategy > IT Industry > Industry Regulations
Companies Mentioned
China Telecom Corporation Limited (2)
Intel Corporation (1)
Microsoft Corporation (1)
T-Mobile USA, Inc. (1)
UTStarcom, Inc. (1)
Verizon Communications (1)
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