TM Forum’s Open Digital Steering Group expands membership to include eleven of world’s largest communications, digital and IT companies; first of many intensive collaborative meetings brings leaders together to solve digital services challenges
Singapore — April 24, 2013: As the digital-based economy continues to grow and evolve rapidly, global industry body TM Forum announced that its newly formed Open Digital Steering Group has now expanded to include 11 of the world’s largest service and solution providers, including Accenture, China Mobile Communications Corp., France Telecom-Orange, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft Corp., Oracle, Telecom Italia, Telefónica Digital, Telstra and Vodafone. The group recently hosted an intensive session in London to set in motion an aggressive plan to deliver essential tools necessary for profitable digital service delivery.
TM Forum, the global industry association with over 900 member companies from across the digital services ecosystem, is focused on removing roadblocks to delivering and operating all types of digital services, and supporting a vibrant open digital economy. Its expanded steering group provides executive guidance and support, including strategic direction and consultation to help shape TM Forum’s Digital Services Initiative.
The steering group members also act as representatives for the initiative within their own company and the industry as a whole, encouraging broader engagement and support.
In London, TM Forum brought the group’s members and other industry leaders together for a rapid collaboration-style ‘Hot House’ meeting where 35 participants from more than 20 companies took part in intensive collaboration to solve some of the most pressing industry challenges related specifically to digital services delivery. Over two days, the group set in motion plans to deliver early versions of the following tools in time for TM Forum’s flagship conference and expo, Management World 2013 in Nice, France:
A digital services reference architecture to enable the standardized design of the critical architectural elements for the enablement of digital services
Outlines of critical Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) needed for the end to end management of key capabilities, such as identity, payment, balance checking, charging and billing and more
Definitions of B2B2X business models and their impact on service provider IT and operations to facilitate building rapid partnerships in the digital ecosystem, both for communications and other types of digital service providers such as cloud, content and information providers
Based on the success of the first Hot House meeting, the Forum plans to expand its use of intensive collaborative process to solve other business and operational challenges in order to expedite their delivery, ultimately producing much quicker results for TM Forum’s members and the industry at large.
“As growth of the digital economy continue to accelerate, the Forum’s Digital Services Initiative is putting a stake in the ground to solve the challenges of a vibrant, open digital ecosystem, and giving our members the tools to thrive in the digital world,” said Nik Willetts, chief strategy officer, TM Forum.
“Based on the success of recent meetings, we plan to introduce a wide range of agile collaborative formats throughout the Forum’s R&D program to create a fast-paced development environment that can keep pace with the world’s largest digital services companies.”
Earlier this year TM Forum named former BT executive, Phil Dance, as chairman of the Open Digital Steering Group, responsible for guiding the group’s work, goals and output. Phil is a TM Forum Ambassador and one of its Distinguished Fellows. He is also a former member of TM Forum’s Board of Directors, and as chief information officer at BT he was a key player in the design and development of BT’s 21st Century Network.
Don’t miss TM Forum in action at Management World in May. TM Forum’s Management World conferences and expos stand apart by offering outstanding quality and insights through expert keynotes, sessions, unrivaled networking opportunities, and TM Forum’s renowned Training and Certification programs. Register now for Management World and receive maximum savings.
For additional information or to join TM Forum, please visit the Membership section of our Website or email memberservices@tmforum.org and a local representative will respond.
SCCyberworld
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
TM Forum and World’s Largest Communications and IT Companies Take Major Leap to Ease Digital Services Delivery
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Mobile leaders to unify the Symbian software platform and set the future of mobile free
Foundation to be established to provide royalty-free open platform and accelerate innovation
LONDON, UK; June 24, 2008 -- Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DOCOMO announced today their intent to unite Symbian OS™, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone they plan to establish the Symbian Foundation to extend the appeal of this unified software platform. Membership of this non-profit foundation will be open to all organizations. This initiative is supported by current shareholders and management of Symbian Limited, who have been actively involved in its development. Plans for the foundation have already received wide support from other industry leaders.
To enable the foundation, Nokia today announced plans to acquire the remaining shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own and then contribute the Symbian and S60 software to the foundation. Sony Ericsson and Motorola today announced their intention to contribute technology from UIQ and DOCOMO has also indicated its willingness to contribute its MOAP(S) assets. From these contributions, the foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework. A full platform will be available for all foundation members under a royalty-free license, from the foundation’s first day of operations.
Contributions from foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform. The foundation will make selected components available as open source at launch. It will then work to establish the most complete mobile software offering available in open source. This will be made available over the next two years and is intended to be released under Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0.
The foundation’s platform will build on the leading open mobile software platform, with more than 200 million phones, across 235 models, already shipped by multiple vendors and tens of thousands of third-party applications already available for Symbian OS-based devices.
“Ten years ago, Symbian was established by far sighted players to offer an advanced open operating system and software skills to the whole mobile industry”, said Nigel Clifford, CEO of Symbian. “Our vision is to become the most widely used software platform on the planet and indeed today Symbian OS leads its market by any measure. Today's announcement is a bold new step to achieve that vision by embracing a complete and proven platform, offered in an open way, designed to stimulate innovation which is at the heart of everything we do.”
”Establishing the foundation is one of the biggest contributions to an open community ever made,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. “Nokia is a strong supporter of open platforms and technologies as they give the freedom to build, maintain and evolve applications and services across device segments and offer by far the largest ecosystem, enabling rapid innovation. Today’s announcement is a major milestone in our devices software strategy.”
“The complete, consistent platform that the foundation plans to provide will allow manufacturers to focus on their unique differentiation at a device level” said Dick Komiyama, President of Sony Ericsson. “Sony Ericsson believes that the unified Symbian Foundation platform will greatly simplify the world for handset manufacturers, operators and developers, enabling greater innovation in services and applications to the benefit of consumers everywhere.“
"Motorola has long been a leader and advocate of open software for mobile platforms. We’re excited to be joining Nokia, Sony Ericsson, NTT DOCOMO and others in leading this open source effort to form the new Symbian Foundation and unite the Symbian ecosystem," said Alain Mutricy, Senior Vice President, Platforms & Technology Office, Motorola Mobile Devices. “Also, Motorola, together with Sony Ericsson, will be contributing UIQ technology to the foundation and will work with UIQ as they are refocusing as an important supplier in the new Symbian ecosystem. This will be a great addition, as the foundation will be able to leverage UIQ’s unique experience, which includes expertise in touch technology.”
“DOCOMO welcomes this development and we look forward to moving our Symbian based devices and service onto the foundation platform. We are also willing to contribute our MOAP(S) assets to the foundation. This is a very positive step in further increasing the adoption of the Symbian software and creating an even more open, consistent and complete platform. The foundation software will enable us to enjoy the benefits of a global platform in bringing new, leading-edge services to the Japanese market. It will increase efficiency and help us provide our wide customer base with the most advanced mobile experiences.” said Toshio Miki, Associate Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Communication Device Development Department of NTT DOCOMO.
"Mobile phones have turned into sophisticated multimedia computers and smart phones continue to grow in popularity," said Kris Rinne, Senior Vice President of Architecture and Planning at AT&T. "The Symbian Foundation will reduce fragmentation in the industry and holds the promise of incorporating leading technology and the most mature software into a unified platform for the entire industry. This will create an environment that will encourage and enable developers to build compelling applications that will positively affect our customers' lives and support AT&T in offering its differentiated services to consumers."
"Joining the Symbian Foundation is an ideal opportunity for LG to broaden our commitment to providing our customers with the best possible mobile experience” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We believe that open mobile platforms will contribute to advance the mobile industry. At LG we will play a leading role in creating a better mobile environment, working with the Symbian Foundation to provide our customers with smart new features based on this open platform.”
“Samsung Electronics is committed to Symbian as one of the future platforms for our mobile devices and believes that establishing the foundation is a visionary move in positioning the platform as the most proven open platform for future development. We are delighted to be playing a significant role in that future by joining the foundation board. We have already used Symbian and S60 software successfully to deliver appealing devices and see these steps making the platform even more attractive for bringing the latest technologies and services to the market” said Dr. Do Hun Kwon, VP & Managing Director, Samsung Electronics Research Institute.
"ST sees strong consumer demand, across all segments, for a richer multimedia experience," said Monica de Virgiliis, General Manager of the Wireless Multimedia Division, STMicroelectronics. "This new foundation synchronises and harmonises the mainstream software approach to address this need and makes the software widely available. We anticipate this will fuel the growth of multimedia-capable devices and we are excited about being able to leverage our long-standing leadership in consumer digital multimedia to satisfy more and more consumers."
“TI has long supported open platforms, and we are excited about the formation of the Symbian Foundation. We believe the new structure will remove barriers to innovation in the mobile industry by providing a common platform on which exciting next-generation applications and services can be built,” said Greg Delagi, senior vice president of TI’s Wireless Business Unit. “Manufacturers can get a head-start on development with TI’s proven OMAP-based Symbian S60 software development platform. Combined with the foundation’s open collaboration model, this will allow more developers to harness the performance and multimedia capabilities of the OMAP family to accelerate improvements in the mobile user experience.”
“Vodafone believes this is a significant step in driving mobile innovation for the Internet as well as creating a richer mobile experience for our customers” said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Vodafone's Global Director of Terminals. “We have been challenging the industry to reduce complexity and focus on fewer operating systems. This step will help to drive even faster innovation, as well as enable operators to accelerate time-to-market for compelling and varied new services.”
Foundation members share the vision that the foundation will unify the software platform, supercharge innovation and accelerate the availability of new services and compelling experiences for consumers and business users around the world. The combined platform is already one of the most advanced and widely used mobile platforms, making it highly attractive for all ecosystem partners, including developers, mobile operators, content and service providers and device manufacturers.
The foundation is expected to start operating during the first half of 2009, subject to the closing of the acquisition of Symbian Ltd by Nokia.
Monday, May 26, 2008
CELCOM ADDS MORE MUSCLE TO BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY OFFERING
Celcom unveils two new wireless broadband access devices: USB Stick Modem and Wireless Gateway 
(From L to R): YBhg. Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer, Celcom Malaysia Berhad. Mr. Alex Jiang Yi Bing, President Asia Pacific Terminals, Huawei. Mr. Dare Koslow, Regional Marketing Manager, Vodafone.
Kuala Lumpur, 21 May 2008 – Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad, a brand synonymous with unbeatable mobile products and services, today further empowers discerning consumers in search of unparalleled connectivity and mobility with the introduction of the Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick and the Celcom Broadband Wireless Gateway.
“In today’s context, mobility and connectivity are no longer considered an extravagance but a need. Celcom understands our customers’ need to stay connected at all times, thus, we are introducing these two wireless broadband access products to enhance the way they can utilise the Celcom Mobile Broadband service anytime and anywhere,” said Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad.
Dato’ Sri Shazalli also added that the launch of Celcom’s two new products in conjunction with the World Congress on Information Technology 2008’s (WCIT 2008) go well with the event’s theme of: Enabling Businesses. Empowering Societies. Enriching Economies.
Alliance
Celcom’s alliance with Vodafone began in 2006 when the two companies signed a partnership agreement to jointly market products and services under a dual brand, bringing together the nationally recognized brand of Celcom, and globally recognized brand of Vodafone. The newly announced Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick is a continuation of this previous agreement.
Celcom’s other strategic partner in providing consumers with advanced mobile technologies is Huawei, the leader in the next generation of telecommunications networks. The China-based company was recently awarded the Frost & Sullivan Malaysia Telecoms Award 2008 for Telecoms Equipment Vendor of the Year. The Huawei produced Celcom Broadband Wireless Gateway is a continuation of the partnership with Huawei which began with the Celcom Huawei 3G data card introduced in 2005. 
Exclusive to Celcom, the Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick is a High-speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) Universal Serial Bus (USB) modem. It is a multi-mode wireless terminal for business professionals, featuring cutting-edge design and extremely compact size. With the device, mobile users can enjoy a superior connectivity experience via Celcom’s unbeatable network due to its high speed dependable features, stability and convenient operation.
The Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick is reliable, fast, and easy to operate, supporting future download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. Customers simply connect the device to their PC’s USB port. With a size and form factor similar to a typical USB memory thumb drive, the Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick also features a MicroSD slot, enabling its versatile use as a normal USB memory thumb drive.
Using the Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick, Celcom customers can access the Internet and send or receive messages or emails wirelessly by connecting to Celcom’s 3.5G network via HSDPA /Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)/Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE)/Global System for Mobile (GSM) networks.
The Celcom Broadband Wireless Gateway offers a cost-effective way for home users and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to enjoy shared wireless broadband access. The device serves as a mobile wireless router for a group of users, providing the following key benefits:
§ Faster speed. HSDPA-enabled with speeds of up to 7.2Mbps (network dependent).
§ Cost effectiveness. Allows access to Celcom wireless broadband on a sharing basis via built-in Wi-Fi capability.
§ Complete connectivity. For office communication needs, e.g. connecting an additional device such as printer, the device can be connected to the Wireless Gateway via its LAN Ethernet port, RJ-11 port or wireless connection. The device can also connect to a regular fixed phone to make voice calls simultaneously while surfing the internet.
§ Simpler maintenance. In an office setting, the Wireless Gateway eliminates the need for individual modems and lines for each employee.
§ One-time-configuration. The user only needs to set up the device once.
§ Security. The Wireless Gateway secures a user’s Internet and network access with Wi-Fi encryption protection and a powerful, built-in firewall.
§ Portability. As a mobile HSDPA wireless solution, the Wireless Gateway can be taken anywhere. All that is required is cellular network coverage and a power supply.
The introduction and availability of these two new wireless access devices complements Celcom’s broadband service and is offered exclusively to Celcom Broadband subscribers.
Interested parties can purchase the products at any of Celcom’s participating Blue Cube outlets. For further information on all of Celcom’s products and services, please visit www.celcom.com.my.
