Mobile Unified Communications Featured Article

Mobile unified communications provider D2 Technologies today announced that it has joined with Beceem Communications and ECS to expand the Google (News - Alert) Android operating system into smartphones delivering VoIP over WiMAX and other next-generation IP communications capabilities.

 

D2, which made the announcement at the WiMAX (News - Alert) Forum Congress of the Americas, said its breakthrough mCUE converged communications client with vPort embedded VoIP engine powers the ECS T371 mobile device, based on the OMAP-3430 processor from Texas Instruments (News - Alert) -- paired with Beceem’s high-performance BCSM250 WiMAX modem. The total product is a “complete turnkey solution” for quickly developing and delivering mobile devices to market, including ones utilizing the Android OS, according to the companies.

 

“With the industry actively working toward the creation and delivery of a WiMAX infrastructure, manufacturers will need to develop mobile devices that take advantage of the greater bandwidth, range and other benefits of this technology,” said Doug Makishima (News - Alert), chief operating officer at D2 Technologies, in a statement. “Together with Beceem and ECS, we’ve shown how a complete ecosystem dedicated to mobile VoIP over WiMAX can help device manufacturers and unified communications/VoIP providers get new products to market more quickly, efficiently and effectively.”

 

Just last month D2 and Beceem completed what D2 called “the world’s first” mobile VoIP calls over WiMAX on Android using the Zoom OMAP34x-II mobile development platform and a Beceem BSCM250 WiMAX modem with D2’s kernel-level embedded voice engine for guaranteed real-time performance.

 

“Beceem has been the market and product leader in WiMAX since first devices shipped, and we are excited to continue to push the envelope of what is possible in 4G by having a mobile VoIP solution available for Android devices,” said Lars Johnsson (News - Alert), vice president of marketing and business development at Beceem, in a statement. “We have worked closely with D2 to integrate our market leading BCSM250 Mobile WiMAX chip into TI’s OMAP processor, using the Zoom II MDP running Android and are excited to see how our collaboration with ECS has enabled this one-of-a-kind 4G phone.”

 

D2’s mCUE solution, a patent-pending VoIP and IP communications client, paired

with Beceem’s chipsets, provides the components necessary for manufacturers to quickly field multi-mode mobile devices for enterprise, carrier and consumer use. This includes dual-mode Wi-Fi -- and now WiMAX-powered smartphones and MIDs such as the ECS T371.

 

mCUE provides multi-service and multi-modal communications capabilities

such as VoIP, IM chat, presence and video calls over WiMAX, as well as multi-radio, multinetwork seamless voice call handover.

 

Beceem reps said its chips outperform all competing products on important metrics of throughput, hand-off, power consumption, cost and integration readiness, all of which are key requirements for volume products. As an example, the ECS T371 gives consumers a comprehensive WiMAX services experience with its versatile media center, IM and VoIP functions and advanced applications -- all in one compact and powerful device.

 

”ECS values this opportunity to work with D2 and Beceem, and is excited to be part of the breakthrough of enabling VoIP on live WiMAX Android devices. This transforms the WiMAX service offering from pure data access to true triple-play services in the palm of consumer’s hands,” said Edward Chou, senior manager of intelligent communication product BU in ECS. ”ECS will continue to work on innovative devices and cooperate with WiMAX operators to explore and expand the value of 4G.”