14 October - World Standards Day - At Telecom 99 Geneva, ETSI and WAP Forum signed a cooperation agreement to drive interoperability of standards for wireless mobile Internet.

The agreement underlines the importance of collaboration between standardizers and Fora to create global wireless protocol specifications that will work across different wireless network technologies, including GSM and UMTS.

This partnership follows the trend ETSI has established to link innovative standardization with market input coming from Fora to better draw in customer requirements to the standardization process and allow for better dissemination of standards and specifications throughout the world.

"Wireless Mobile Internet has been one of the show stoppers at Telecom 99 and the ETSI/WAP Forum agreement aims to provide the market with mobile Internet solutions as fast as possible," said Bridget Cosgrave, ETSI Deputy Director General.

In June, WAP Forum delivered Version 1.1 of the WAP specification - an open, global technology for providing Internet communications and advanced telephony services on digital mobile phones, pagers, personal digital assistants and other wireless terminals. More than 70 WAP Forum member companies and 160 ETSI members exhibited at Telecom 99, many launching new products and services based on WAP V1.1

"Our cooperative agreement with ETSI is key to making WAP the de-facto worldwide standard for the mobile Internet," said Gregory Williams, WAP Forum Board Chairman. "We look forward to working with ETSI to evolve WAP as the convergence of the Internet and wireless communications continues into the next millennium."

ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute) is a non-profit making organization whose mission is to produce the telecommunications standards that will be used for decades to come throughout Europe and beyond.

Based in Sophia Antipolis (France), ETSI unites nearly 700 members from 50 countries inside and outside Europe, and represents administrations, network operators, manufacturers, service providers, technical bodies and users. The Institute's work programme is determined by its members, who are also responsible for approving its deliverables. As a result, ETSI's activities are maintained in close alignment with the market needs expressed by its members.

ETSI plays a major role in developing a wide range of standards and other technical documentation as Europe's contribution to world-wide standardization in telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology. ETSI's prime objective is to support global harmonization by providing a forum in which all the key players can contribute actively. ETSI is officially recognised by the European Commission and the EFTA secretariat.

ETSI web site: http://www.etsi.org

For further information about this news release, please contact:
Tom Eriksen or Florence Pontieux, ETSI,
tel: +33 (0)4 92 94 43 12, fax: +33 (0)4 92 38 49 32,
E-Mail: [email protected]