* Incentive lurks for nailing down your mobile voice strategy
It looks as though T-Mobile is considering a formal expansion of its consumer-centric Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) service to business customers. It has conducted formal UMA Wi-Fi-to-cellular hand-off testing with enterprise-grade Wi-Fi vendor Meru Networks and has UMA services running in at least two organizations.
Meru Networks announced this week that it has teamed with the wireless carrier to enable users in enterprises to roam between outdoor cellular and indoor Wi-Fi networks without any interruptions to their calls. Children’s Hospital in Seattle is using the jointly tested Wi-Fi-to-cellular service, according to Meru.
You may also recall newsletters from last year that described Chicago fruits and vegetables wholesaler Anthony Marano dabbling in a mix of FMC approaches, including T-Mobile’s UMA service, Meru WLANs and a CPE-based FMC solution from Agito Networks.
With a UMA service, carrier-provided equipment basically tunnels GSM through Wi-Fi, seamlessly moving calls from one network to the other as the user roams between network types. The carrier owns the phone number.
By contrast, CPE from companies like Agito, Aruba, Divitas Networks, FirstHand and Siemens generally integrates with the corporate PBX and extends PBX dial plans, features and telephony-centric applications to users’ dual-mode handsets.
Either approach might be desirable, depending on your organization. But having both CPE- and carrier-based solutions further forces the issue: Do you want internal mobile users on Wi-Fi or cellular? Do you want a PBX hooked into your mobile environment or do you prefer to use a Centrex-like mobile service? Do you want single number reach with a PBX number, or do you want the carrier in charge of your dial plan? Getting an enterprise strategy in place is important so that you invest in the phones, CPE, and services that match the strategy.
What’s puzzling at this point is whether T-Mobile actually has a bona fide enterprise UMA offering or whether UMA services must be customized for specific interested takers. T-Mobile declined to answer this question by press time.
The most insight into T-Mobile’s intentions that I was able to gain came in a statement in Meru’s press release: “After seeing how our dual-band phones operate over the Meru WLAN, we are confident that the use of UMA technology will change the nature of the enterprise voice experience,” said Dave Fredericks, T-Mobile’s national director for products solutions and planning.
Presumably, T-Mobile will conduct similar testing with other enterprise Wi-Fi vendors so that you can get its UMA service regardless of your Wi-Fi vendor of choice. We’ll see.
