Subject: [NEXTEL-1] PTT Solutions Proliferate

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 14:53:33 -0500

PTT Solutions Proliferate

As a new entrant joins the push-to-talk fray,
some believe a shakeup is likely among vendors.

By Sue Marek
November 15, 2003

Verizon Wireless is the only wireless operator thus far to have a
commercially deployed push-to-talk walkie-talkie solution that competes with
industry leader Nextel Communications Inc., but many other carriers are
likely to soon follow suit.

It's exactly that bevy of interested operators worldwide that PTT solutions
providers are hoping to attract. But the choice of PTT solutions is
proliferating, making the field a bit crowded and spurring speculation that
some of these companies and PTT platforms will fall to the wayside.

Choices, choices

Familiar wireless companies such as Nokia, Siemens and Comverse offer PTT
solutions, as does Motorola through its newly acquired Winphoria division.
Sonim Technologies, which has a PTT solution manufactured by Ericsson, is
another mover in the space, along with Togabi Technologies. CDMA heavyweight
Qualcomm offers two solutions. BREWChat, which operates as an application on
the BREW platform, builds on the company's Qchat solution, which Nextel
Communications has exclusive rights to in the United States.

Fastmobile also offers a solution, but it uses the application service
provider model that is independent of the wireless carrier by providing its
"fastchat" service to customers who download the application to their
handset or personal computer.

"In the U.S., there are not enough carriers to support the vendor solutions
that are out there," says Mark Lowenstein, managing director of Mobile
Ecosystem. "Lots of vendors have their sights set on Europe, where there is
no PTT market. I think the market opportunity is larger than just the U.S.,
but I don't think all the vendors will be here a year from now. There will
be some sort of shakeout."

The newest entrant to the PTT playing field is Kodiak Networks, a wireless
systems company that offers a voice services platform. The company comes
with some high-profile backers and an innovative take on the instant-chat
phenomenon that Nextel perfected and so many wireless operators are striving
to attain.

Kodiak, which has been in stealth mode for two years, has about 80
employees, offices in three cities-San Ramon, Calif.; Plano, Texas, and
Bangalore, India-and is headed by CEO Craig Farrill, the former chief
technology officer of Vodafone AirTouch. The company has $10.5 million in
funding from Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint Ventures and inOvate Communications
Group.

But don't be fooled by Kodiak's "stealth" status. Farrill says a major U.S.
carrier will deploy the firm's technology and the company's CDMA PTT
solution already is shipping, as are handsets. Kyocera is the first handset
vendor to commit to Kodiak's solution, but Kodiak has inked deals with Palm
and Symbian to incorporate its technology into phones using those two
operating systems. The company also plans to have a commercial GSM system
and handsets available this year.

The Voice Channel

What makes Kodiak's solution different from the rest, according to Farrill,
is its Real-Time Exchange System, an all-IP based packet-switched solution
that uses the existing voice channel instead of the data channel, which is
what other PTT vendors use. "This works everywhere because of the
fundamental voice networks," Farrill says. "It can speak the language of 2G
networks and the language of 3G networks."

Because it uses the voice channel, latency is minimal, Farrill says. The RTX
system has an intra-call latency of 150 milliseconds and its call setup
(which is typically the most time-consuming part of the interchange) occurs
in two to three seconds.

When it comes to connecting with others, as long as the person initiating
the PTT call is using the RTX system and a compatible handset, they can
connect with any other wireless or even wireline user, regardless of who
their carrier is or what handset they are using, Farrill says. This scenario
also works for group calling, as long as the initiator is using a carrier
with Kodiak's system and a Kodiak-compatible handset. This way, Farrill
says, carriers and subscribers can take advantage of the existing investment
in handsets. And that is a very compelling difference. "I like that this
solution supports legacy handsets, given the fact that we have 150 million
non-PTT handsets out there," Lowenstein says.

Kodiak's solution is getting accolades. "If they can do what they say they
can do, they have a winner," says Andy Seybold of the Andrew Seybold Group.
Although Seybold hasn't actually seen a demo of the technology, he believes
one potential problem with using the voice channel instead of voice over IP
is some carriers, particularly GSM operators, may not have the necessary
capacity in their voice networks to support this technology.

However, Farrill says the RTX system uses less capacity than the voice over
IP solutions in other products. "It takes six times as many bits to use
voice over IP than it does using it in the GSM voice channel," Farrill says.
The reason, he adds, is when you use VoIP over the data channel, you have to
set up the data channel and then set up the VoIP session, which takes
longer.

Promoting Interoperability

Kodiak's solution could eliminate some of the interoperability issues that
currently plague PTT. Proponents of PTT believe it must be interoperable
among different carrier networks and different handsets-regardless of who
initiates the call-for the service to reach its full potential. Currently,
Verizon
customers who subscribe to the carrier's PTT service can connect only with
other Verizon subscribers who also have the service and a PTT handset,
which now consists of only the Motorola v60p device.

PTT equipment makers such as Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens and others have
defined a specification, but it is only for the GSM evolution path, meaning
GSM networks would be interoperable but not with CDMA networks. "CDMA was
not part of the original announcement because 80 percent of the market is
GSM," says John Burns, CEO and president of Sonim. "Clearly discussions are
under way to manage CDMA to GSM interoperability."

With standardization, vendors such as Sonim and others involved in the
standardization process will be able to offer carrier customers a vast
selection of handsets, Burns says. "If I'm part of a standard and whichever
client software I use is standards-compliant, then I can enable all of an
operator's handsets in their portfolio," Burns says. "We believe that's what
operators want."

VoIP solutions, such as Sonim's platform, appeal to operators because they
use the costly data networks that operators have deployed over the past few
years. According to Burns, carriers like the VoIP solution because from the
user perspective, the application is voice, but from the revenue-reporting
standpoint, the application counts toward data revenue. "This makes the
financial guys happy," Burns says. "And from a user perspective, this is
good, too."

Interoperability issues aside, there are still numerous PTT solutions for
operators to choose from and not all vendors likely will make the cut.
According to Andy Rimkus, vice president of marketing and sales at Togabi
Technologies, besides the type of solution, the primary differentiator among
vendors are going to be features, functionality and performance. "We think
features, functionality, coverage, as well as international reach, are the
kinds of things that will make the day," he says.

But don't underestimate the power of the name. "I believe that like MMS, PTT
is going to see two or three vendors take about 90 percent of the market,"
Burns says. "I think it will be Ericsson, Nokia and a few others."

Certainly the rush is on for vendors to ink operator deals and prove the
commercial viability of their PTT solutions. And as more operators launch
competitive offerings, it will become evident which vendors are here to stay
and which will fall to the wayside.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA336369&spacedesc=Departments&stt=000

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