PARIS, March 1st, 1999 -- Alcatel and Unwired Planet, Inc. today announced an agreement which allows Alcatel to provide end-to-end Internet solutions to wireless carriers. Alcatel recently announced its HomeTopä Solutions strategy, to provide Internet value added services to a variety of Internet terminals. This new agreement with Unwired Planetä (UP) allows Alcatel to extend the offer to wireless Internet Services and GSM terminals. This solution will be compatible with the specifications of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), as defined by the WAP Forum (www.wapforum.org).
Wireless network operators use wireless Internet Services to reduce costs and increase revenues. Innovative services can be deployed to differentiate offerings and establish brand loyalty. Such services include self-service on-screen Customer Care for reduced call center load and Call Feature Control for increased use of intelligent network features. This UP-Alcatel, WAP-compatible, solution also delivers a vast array of Internet-based public information services such as news, sports, stocks, travel and entertainment.
Alcatel can now offer field-tested, turnkey HomeTopä solutions, from the network services platform to the GSM terminal, enabling operators to provide a range of online interactive services via Internet-enabled GSM. The partnership brings together Alcatel, a major actor in the mobile and fixed infrastructure for operators, with Unwired Planet who has pioneered the deployment of interactive wireless Internet technology.
Alcatel was early in seeing the vision for new information services and has been manufacturing Internet ready handsets for several months which contain Unwired Planet’s UP.Browserä, the industry-leading microbrowser for mobile devices. This early involvement from Alcatel in wireless Internet services has been formalised by the SFR wireless kiosk project.
The Unwired Planet UP.Linkä platform is a comprehensive, open and robust system that enables interactive information services and value-added telephony applications on wireless handsets running UP.Browser. Unwired Planet technology provides a clear path for application developers, which in turn accelerates market growth by enabling network operators to lower costs, differentiate service and efficiently deliver the best possible applications and services to consumers.
"Many operators are looking for ways to encourage the demand of new revenue generating information services using their existing networks. The UP-Alcatel agreement is an additional step in the development of ubiquitous Internet services accessible from various terminals," states Denis Attal, Director of Internet Software Solutions at Alcatel. "By promoting WAP products and services today, we are creating a market that will allow network operators to migrate to GPRS and later technologies, as they are rolled out."
"Unwired Planet has been a keen promoter of the WAP specifications and has demonstrated that services developed for one protocol, such as CDPD in the United States, can be easily deployed on others, such as Circuit Switched Data (CSD) for GSM," said Malcolm Bird, Managing Director , Unwired Planet (Europe) Ltd. "We have been impressed with Alcatel’s quick grasp of the unique opportunity that WAP offers, and are pleased to reinforce our partnership with them in the global market."
UP and Alcatel actively support the WAP Forum, whose objective is contributing to the specification effort and marketing complete WAP-compatible solutions, including GSM mobile phones equipped with microbrowsers. Alcatel sits on the board of Directors and UP currently holds the chair.
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