Nokia will deliver a core GPRS system to VIAG Interkom comprising of the Nokia SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node), Nokia GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node), Nokia CG (Charging Gateway) and IP backbone components necessary for GPRS deployment. In addition, Nokia will provide extensive System Integration expertise to integrate the GPRS core network into the existing environment. A pre-commercial system based on the final hardware has already been implemented at VIAG Interkom and is currently used in the testing of applications.
With this agreement VIAG Interkom, a joint venture of VIAG AG, British Telecom and Telenor, will take the first step to provide true mobile Internet access to their subscribers - offering packet switched data through the enhanced GSM network for their GSM and pre-paid customers.
Recently, at the CeBIT 2000 exhibition in Germany, VIAG Interkom, in co-operation with Nokia, presented a GPRS demonstration, showing how GPRS enables secure wireless access to Enterprise Resource planning, including applications such as production, sales, customer information and e-mail, in the Corporate environment. The demonstration also showed how Mobile Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can use GPRS to offer e-mail, chat and information services.
"Thanks to services such as GPRS, in the very near future the end-users can communicate and access information independently of time or place", said Maximilian Ardelt, Chairman of the VIAG Interkom board of management. "This demonstration will enable our stand-visitors to experience the look and feel of these new wireless data services."
"Nokia´s carrier-class scaleable GPRS solution is ideal for VIAG Interkom´s commercial deployment needs," says Petri Pöyhönen, Head of GPRS Business Program, Nokia Networks. "The Nokia GPRS solution is a key building block in the development of the Mobile Information Society based upon high-speed IP data technology."
GPRS offers instant packet-switched connections to data networks via GSM technology. In addition to allowing faster and easier Internet access this continuous connectivity enables a variety of new applications such as multimedia messaging, wireless corporate intranet, remote control and maintenance of appliances and any number of monitoring or surveillance applications.
VIAG Interkom GmbH and Co. is a joint venture between VIAG Aktiengesellschaft (45%), British Telecommunications plc (45%) and the Norwegian Telenor AS (10%). The company meets all its private and business customers´needs in the field of telecommunications. The product portfolio is based on the company´s own fixed and mobile network infrastructure, providing direct access for customers. The company focusses on integrated solutions which, in line with the company philosophy, make telecommunications "light and easy".
Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. The company is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, Nokia's net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 55,000 people.