Germany's T-Mobil Launches GPRS; Motorola's First-To-Market Solution Demonstrates Capabilities of New Mobile Data Service
[June 23rd 2000} Leading GSM network
operator T-Mobil has announced the launch of General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS) high speed mobile data on the T-D1 network in
Germany. The network, enabled by Motorola's
Network Solutions Sector (NSS), is scheduled to launch today. The
GPRS system, which includes infrastructure technology from Cisco
Systems Inc., will be deployed countrywide across Germany,
providing rapid mobile data service availability to all
subscribers on the T-D1 network.
GPRS enables high speed access to Internet-based content and
services via a mobile terminal, and opens up the mobile market to
a wealth of data applications, including e-commerce, email, and
data transfer.
The contract to implement Motorola's high speed Aspira GPRS core
network end-to-end solution was signed in January this year.
Motorola and T-Mobil conducted trials last year, with the first
live GPRS call in Germany made on the T-Mobil network in November.
T-Mobil's GPRS network will launch with Motorola's Timeport
p7389i GPRS phone -- the world's first GSM tri-band GPRS handset.
A number of GPRS-enabled demonstration applications were showcased
at T-Mobil's launch announcement event, highlighting the
capabilities of the packet data technology and the potential of
this innovative new service.
Working with California-based PacketVideo, Motorola's Aspira GPRS
network carried a live video-over-GPRS demonstration, providing an
illustration of possible applications including video
conferencing, surveillance and remote monitoring via the mobile
terminal.
The GPRS live video camera demonstration was enabled by
PacketVideo's MPEG4 compliant software-based encoding, decoding,
and transmission management products, which enable a variety of
content and rich media applications to be delivered to mobile
devices anytime, anywhere. Content was transported across the GPRS
network to the end-user device. Web cameras were situated at T-
Mobil's site in Bonn and at the EXPO2000 fair in Hanover,
transmitting to a PDA client equipped with PacketVideo's PVPlayer
decoding software, connected via infrared link to Motorola's
Timeport GPRS p7389i handset.
High speed web browsing was demonstrated utilising California-
based BlueKite.com's Data Reduxion technology, which optimises
the bandwidth available for packet-based mobile networks such as
GPRS, and for the existing mobile networks such as GSM and CDMA.
The BlueKite.com solution brings the full content of the Internet
to devices equipped with standard Web browsers. It turbo-charges
wireless Internet access while increasing bandwidth efficiency.
Wireless Internet services built with BlueKite.com technology are
five times faster and 10 times more efficient. The result is
wireless Internet services with wireline performance at a fraction
of the cost.
Additional applications were integrated with the T-Mobil GPRS
network by Invisix, the Motorola and Cisco joint venture
applications integration organisation, including an interactive
Monopoly. game for the press event, proving the versatility of the
GPRS solution and the different markets it can serve.
Jeff Gordon, Motorola corporate vice president and general manager
of Motorola NSS for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: "T-
Mobil's success is a superb example of a leading operator working
with a leading supplier to deliver an end-to-end, first to market
solution for the new generation of mobile technology. We are
delighted to be the enabler behind the implementation of GPRS in
the new world of the wireless Internet."Motorola has supplied T-Mobil's GSM system solutions since 1993.
Motorola's contract with T-Mobil is for the countrywide
implementation of Motorola's total Aspira GPRS network solution,
including the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), and the Gateway
GPRS Support Node (GGSN), from Cisco. Motorola's GPRS architecture
can be implemented over an existing GSM network, protecting
operators' investment. Motorola's GSM infrastructure systems are
GPRS-ready, requiring only a software load and PCU addition, with
no modifications to existing hardware. Offering controlled
evolution to third generation mobile communications, Motorola's
GPRS data solution enables operators to take advantage of many new
revenue opportunities. Through its alliance with Cisco, Motorola
is driving market growth, developing applications and value-added
services to provide operators with innovative, competitive and
unique offerings for their subscriber base.
http://horizongprs.motorola.com
