CDMA Industry Leads In The Delivery Of Multimedia Messaging Across Multi-Platform Wireless Networks

CDG Applauds Comverse and QUALCOMM's CDMA/GSM MMS Interoperability Advancements


COSTA MESA, Calif., Feb. 24, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) today announced that the CDMA community is leading the industry in bridging the gap between CDMA and GSM networks for the delivery of multimedia messaging services (MMS) across multi-platform wireless networks. Comverse and QUALCOMM will be demonstrating MMS interoperability at 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France this week.

"The CDMA community is at the forefront of bringing MMS to the mass consumer market and the demonstration by Comverse and QUALCOMM further validates CDMA's leadership in advancing MMS capabilities," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "CDMA carriers are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for MMS as they leverage the advantages of their high-speed CDMA2000(r) networks and the increasing range of devices with the MMS functionality."

"Comverse's robust multimedia messaging service solutions, in conjunction with QUALCOMM's solutions, are based on open standards and enable carriers to offer advanced services and provide a seamless experience to their customers regardless of technology platform," said Amit Mattatia, vice president and general manager, MMS division at Comverse. "We are excited to work with the CDG and QUALCOMM in showing the true capabilities of MMS that are available today."

"QUALCOMM is pleased to be working with Comverse on demonstrating the benefits of inter-carrier MMS interoperability," said Johan Lodenius, senior vice president of European Business Relations, QUALCOMM Internet Services. "The ability to send and receive MMS messages between mobile devices and computers, independent of the technologies or networks they are running on, is a tremendous boost for the entire industry and will be a key driver for robust next-generation wireless services."

The Comverse and QUALCOMM demonstration features the Comverse Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) and MMS BREW-based handset clients showcasing multimedia messages sent over CDMA and GSM networks. The MMS interoperability demonstration transfers text, image and speech messages between CDMA and GSM handsets as well as PCs.

KDDI of Japan and SK Telecom and KT Freetel of South Korea were among the first operators in the world to offer multimedia messaging services. Today, CDMA2000 operators across the world, including Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the U.S., BellSouth International and VIVO in Latin America, and Telstra in Australia, offer MMS services in their markets.

CDG, in cooperation with 3GPP2, was instrumental in developing a series of MMS specifications which define the architecture, networking and various interfaces that foster the open standards environment to enable multiple suppliers to participate in this rapidly growing service marketplace. These specifications also enable multiple mobile devices to send and receive multimedia messages to and from other subscribers on the same CDMA2000 network, across other CDMA2000 networks, as well as to subscribers of other access technology networks such as GSM. The CDG is working with other organizations to ensure that future MMS applications and enablers are technology agnostic so that users can access these services across multiple access technology platforms on a global basis.

About the CDG

The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies. The more than 100 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA-related matters. For more information about the CDG, contact Valerie Christopherson of the CDG News Bureau at +1-714-540-1030, ext. 14, e-mail vchristopherson@bockpr.com, or visit the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.

Note to editors: cdmaOne is a trademark of the CDG. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA).



            

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