CTIA hooks onto unified communications

Unified communications announcements at CTIA from Verizon, Microsoft

VoIP, unified messaging, products and services

CTIA, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, held its annual conference in Las Vegas last week and we're happy to report that convergence is now a key focus for the show. Today, we'll highlight announcements made at the conference with news from Verizon on its Enhanced Mobility for a Software-Based PBX, and from Microsoft with its Windows Mobile 6.1 software.

Verizon announced it has enhanced its enterprise mobility with a new software-based PBX supplied by Ascendent Systems. The system cost-effectively transfers an office phone to a cell phone, adding new capabilities for mobile unified communications. For example, mobile workers can maintain calls in progress as they move between cell phones and desk phones, conduct real-time conference calls, and initiate mass notifications enabling businesses to quickly respond to urgent situations. PBX Mobile Extension also now directly supports the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System, providing BlackBerry smartphone users with secure access to a company's PBX functionality. The new fixed-mobile-convergence offering will be available next month in the United States to enterprise customers of Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless, and will work with traditional or IP-based PBX service, including Verizon IP Trunking and Verizon Managed IP PBX.

Our comments: We’re glad to see enhanced voice and unified communications extended to mobile devices on a Verizon Wireless network service so it can work equally well in on-campus and off-campus environments, but we’re still waiting for more features that integrate the data-centric mobile access requirements for the enterprise.

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CTIA, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, held its annual conference in Las Vegas last week and we're happy to report that convergence is now a key focus for the show. Today, we'll highlight announcements made at the conference with news from Verizon on its Enhanced Mobility for a Software-Based PBX, and from Microsoft with its Windows Mobile 6.1 software.

Verizon announced it has enhanced its enterprise mobility with a new software-based PBX supplied by Ascendent Systems. The system cost-effectively transfers an office phone to a cell phone, adding new capabilities for mobile unified communications. For example, mobile workers can maintain calls in progress as they move between cell phones and desk phones, conduct real-time conference calls, and initiate mass notifications enabling businesses to quickly respond to urgent situations. PBX Mobile Extension also now directly supports the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System, providing BlackBerry smartphone users with secure access to a company's PBX functionality. The new fixed-mobile-convergence offering will be available next month in the United States to enterprise customers of Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless, and will work with traditional or IP-based PBX service, including Verizon IP Trunking and Verizon Managed IP PBX.

Our comments: We’re glad to see enhanced voice and unified communications extended to mobile devices on a Verizon Wireless network service so it can work equally well in on-campus and off-campus environments, but we’re still waiting for more features that integrate the data-centric mobile access requirements for the enterprise.

Microsoft announced the immediate availability of System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 and Windows Mobile 6.1, along with plans for a Microsoft Mobile Services Plan (MMSP) to be available from mobile operators worldwide. The software is targeted at midsize and large businesses to manage and help protect Windows Mobile phones. Operators including AT&T, O2, Orange, TaTa Teleservices and Verizon Wireless are in discussions with Microsoft to deliver the MMSPs. The service plan is designed to help enterprise mobile users work with one or more operators to support enterprise applications and services, while the Mobile Device Manager feature includes management tools for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1, Microsoft Services Premier Support, and Software Assurance for Microsoft applications like Microsoft Office Mobile running on Windows Mobile 6.1-based phones.

Our comments: We are delighted with the multicarrier approach, and are happy to see Microsoft facilitating multioperator feature interoperability, an especially important need for the largest enterprises to proceed with enterprise mobility.

Next time, we’ll review announcements from Alcatel-Lucent on an extended relationship with Genband for mobile NGN solutions, NextPoint's Session Border Controller capabilities with an IP Mobility Suite, and Yahoo's enhancements to its mobile search capabilities.

Read more about voip & convergence in Network World's VoIP & Convergence section.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.