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Avaya and Nokia Release Dual-mode SIP Client TMCnet Contributing Editor The Eseries handset from Nokia received a boost as Nokia and Avaya (News - Alert) launched a dual-mode softphone client for Eseries handsets. The users can now connect through their office-based Avaya PBX  from an Eseries phone with Avaya one-X Mobile Dual Mode Edition. The call will be routed either through a local Wi-Fi connection or the mobile network. It is useful those who keep traveling abroad as it significantly reduce the roaming costs on their mobile.Avaya one-X Mobile Dual Mode Edition is available now as a free download, although it will not work without a valid Avaya PBX (News - Alert) license. However, Nokia is not the only company that provides such services to the users. BT has a similar service called “Fusion.” But Avaya points out that Nokia’s (News - Alert) service is more advantageous as it is based on the user's corporate PBX rather than the operator's network. Also, the other competitors such as Cisco (News - Alert) and Alcatel, focus solely on WiFi whereas Nokia’s service can successfully retain PBX functionality such as call transfer and conferencing in both WiFi (News - Alert) and GSM modes.The new service from Nokia falls within Avaya's "unified communications" strategy. With this service, one contact number can be used for both fixed and mobile communications. Currently, E60, E61 and E70 handsets can use the session initiation protocol (SIP ) capabilities of the Eseries phones. But according to Roger Jones, Avaya EMEA's convergence business development director, Nseries devices cannot handle the client as "those phones' SIP stacks aren't optimised for real-time voice."Roger Jones said, “We will be bringing out a point upgrade [with that option] to the client somewhere around the end of November. But, having talked to 100 or more customers, very few of them really want seamless roaming.” But one of the major problems of the fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) is the switching between WiFi and GSM . Care should be taken not to drop calls while the switching is happening. With the one-X Mobile Dual Mode Edition, user can respond to a prompt to make that switchover. Analysts expect a seamless option to be provided in the later part of 2007. But seamless handoff might be a costly option for users when they are in another country as most of them would like to know when their calls are being charged at international roaming rates.The upgrade that might happen at the end of 2007 will also offer compatibility with Nokia's other Eseries handsets, the E61i and E65. Windows Mobile devices are not supported now. ------- Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page. |