NEW ORLEANS - Nokia (NYSE:NOK) today introduced IP Multimedia products that allow operators of GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA and CDMA2000 networks to bring interactive services such as person-to-person mobile games to their customer. Interactive services are made possible by IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology, which enables person-to-person IP connections between terminals. The new IMS-capable network products, expected to be available during 2003, employ the 3GPP/3GPP2-adopted Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in setting up the IP session.
At the same time, Nokia is endorsing the unification of the IMS standards in the 3GPP and 3GPP2 standardization bodies. A unified IMS standard will pave the way for seamless IP Multimedia service between CDMA2000 and GSM-based 2.5G and 3G networks.
"This is a major step forward for the industry as IP Multimedia products will enable attractive, new services for mobile consumers, including multi-player mobile games and business applications like content sharing," says Petri Launiainen, vice president, IP Convergence Business Program, Nokia Mobile Phones. "During 2003, we also will provide operators and third-party application developers with open tools for creating mobile applications that will connect and interact using IP via the IMS. Nokia is strongly committed to this technology."
"The Nokia IP Multimedia Core brings important new revenue opportunities for the operators of different types of mobile networks," says Heikki Kasko, senior vice president, Nokia Networks (Americas). "Global platforms such as the Nokia IP Multimedia Core, that can be employed in GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, and CDMA2000 networks, bring unprecedented economies of scale and enable greatly simplified service inter-working. This technology will significantly help operators to deploy new revenue-generating services in a cost effective manner."
The Nokia IP Multimedia Core is part of Nokia Intelligent Edge, a solution that enables operators to provide new packet-based services and support new business models for content-to-person, person-to-person and business-connectivity services. Nokia Intelligent Edge provides new "service aware" capability to enhance existing packet core networks. It gives operators new possibilities for positioning themselves in the value chain and allows them to more precisely manage revenues related to network use. Service awareness allows operators to differentiate network traffic by the type of service being delivered.
The IP Multimedia Subsystem, as specified by 3GPP/3GPP2, expands the ways people connect to each other beyond simple voice and messaging. New person-to-person applications enabled by the Nokia IP Multimedia Core allow mobile devices to share media such as streaming video, game data, or any other data content and eventually will enable virtually any IP-based media such as voice, images and video to be combined into a single session.
These new network capabilities, matched with present and emerging mobile device capabilities, will drive IP service profitability. Consumers will benefit from a much wider base of innovative new services made possible by empowering the application developers worldwide to create applications that can interact over mobile networks. Operators then can deploy these applications with a single network investment, making it faster and more cost-effective to deploy a wide range of services.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet, Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
Further information:
Communications Department, Nokia Networks
Tel. (Int.) + 358 (0) 7180 38198
E-mail: networks.communications@nokia.com
www.nokia.com
Corporate Communications, Americas
+ 1 972 894 4573 or
Riitta Mard (on site at CTIA)
Tel. (Int.) + 1 469 878 5008
Background for editors
The Nokia IP Multimedia Core, launched at the 3GSM World Congress in February, facilitates person-to-person IP sessions, which are essential for enabling new interactive applications in mobile devices. These applications can share media such as video streaming or provide interaction such as the exchange of game data.
The Nokia IP Multimedia Core is made up of two new network servers - the Nokia Connection Processing Server and the Nokia IP Multimedia Register. These new products employ the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in setting up the IP sessions in current GPRS and 3G EDGE/WCDMA networks as well as CDMA2000 and alternative access networks such as DSL and Wireless LANs. The Nokia IP Multimedia Core is based on 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards.
In addition to implementing connectivity for applications running in terminals, the Nokia IP Multimedia Core has a standardized interface to external application servers, thus allowing operators to rapidly and cost efficiently expand the IMS-based application portfolio by themselves or by connecting third-party applications to the system.