Belfast, Lund (February 11, 1999) -- Agreement has been reached between AU-System Radio (AUR) and APiON to further continue the interoperability testing (IOT) between the AUR WAP Browser and APiON WAP Gateway. The companies initiated the IOT on February 8th, 1999 to further extend the interoperability of WAP. Both AUR and APiON strive to influence the WAP standard towards becoming a global vendor independent de-facto standard for wireless information and telephony services on digital mobile phones and other wireless terminals.
To further influence the WAP standard towards becoming the global de-facto standard for wireless information, AUR has the ambition to finalise a number of agreements with terminal manufacturers, including Ericsson, and others. These agreements will cover a variety of different communication areas, not only the traditional mobile phones segment.
The APiON WAP gateway product, which will be released in early 2nd quarter 1999, has been designed for scalability and to allow easy integration with existing network infrastructure, such as billing and network management systems. Early interoperability work and demonstration of WAP service concepts have been carried out using a currently available alpha release of the WAP Gateway System.
Establishing compatibility between the AUR WAP Browser and APiON WAP Gateway will be most beneficial for WAP. In addition to standard WAP Client/Gateway Interoperability AUR and APiON are investing in the WTA area since this will be of most importance to telecommunications operators. Achieving WTA IOT between the AUR WAP Browser and APiON WAP Gateway is a key issue that will have a positive effect on the early availability of WTA services for end-users.
WAP and WAP Forum
To make it possible for wireless Internet to take of, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet laid the foundations of the Wireless Application Protocol, known as WAP, in 1997. WAP is today a result of joint efforts contributed by about 80 companies teaming up in an industry group called the WAP Forum (http://www.wapforum.org). The objective of the Forum is to create a license-free standard that not only brings information services, but also telephony services, to wireless devices.
WAP is designed to scale across a broad range of wireless networks and is therefore ideally placed to become a global standard with which good economies of scale can be achieved. The WAP protocol stack is designed in a layered fashion, and is therefore extensible and future proof. Other important benefits are:
� WAP will decrease churn, cut costs and increase revenues by improving existing services, and facilitating new value-added services
� WAP will enable easy and secure access to relevant Internet / intranet information and services through the mobile device
� Wireless Mark-up Language (WML) is optimised for use in small hand-held mobile terminals taking the limited computing power and limited display and keyboard facilities into consideration
� Interoperability across different network types
� Efficient use of client hardware resources
� Efficient use of network resources
� Simple application development model based on the WWW model
WAP Forum released a version 1.0 of the WAP standard in the 30th of April 1998. A version 1.1 or new baseline is being produced as a result of the WAP Forum member's meeting in Fort Worth 1st-5th February. This new baseline will be the version used in the first commercial WAP implementations.
AUR has been involved in the WAP Forum specification work almost from the start as Ericsson representatives with special focus on the WAP communication stack (WDP, WTP, WSP) and WTA.
APiON joined the WAP Forum at the earliest opportunity and has been actively contributing to standards development in the WAP Protocols Group and WAP Applications Group since that time.
GSM World Congress
Interoperability between AU-System Radio WAP client software and APiON gateway will be demonstrated at GSM World Congress 23rd-25th February 1999 in Cannes, France.
http://www.gsmworldcongress.com
About AU-System Radio
AU-System Radio AB is a Company wholly owned by the AU-System Corporation (AU-System Invest). Situated in Ideon Science Park in Lund, the company has approximately 100 employees, mainly with Master degrees in telecommunication or computer science-some also combined with a degree in Business Administration. AUR is a specialist consultancy,
focusing on mobile telecommunication, Internet and IT security. Leading edge technology and expertise in telecommunications form the foundation of AUR's operations. With long experience in adding mobile value, AUR delivers solutions that make these networks more competitive. AU-System Radio is certified by ISO9001:1994 for "consulting and development of software applications and systems for tele- and data-communications."
http://www.ausys.se
http://www.wapguide.com
About APiON
APiON is well established as a world-leading Telecommunications Software Company with significant expertise and competence in a range of network infrastructure technologies including Switching, Signalling, Wireless Data, Internet Integration, and Intelligent Networks. APiON is actively involved in WAP Forum activities, and is committed to being 'first-to-market' with new and innovative functionality as the WAP standards develop. For additional information on APiON, contact the Company on the World Wide Web at
http://www.apion-tss.com.
