Voice over LTE (News - Alert), or VoLTE, which enables 4G LTE (long term evolution) operators to offer rich voice, video, messaging and other rich communication services (RCS), has gained momentum worldwide.
VoLTE also facilitates carriers to migrate voice traffic from 3G to LTE technology, thereby enabling them to use a pure Internet protocol (IP) network. Many hardware and software companies have thus joined hands to provide consumers with high definition (HD) voice communications.
Among such companies are Altair Semiconductor and Ecrio (News - Alert), which have recently announced a collaboration to provide an integrated solution to house Altair's LTE chipset and Ecrio's FlexIMS-based voice over LTE (VoLTE) software.
The chipset, with embedded FlexIMS software, will support rapid expansion of VoLTE worldwide. In turn, the new product will enable HD voice communications to run over LTE networks in a low power and cost optimized architecture.
Altair Semiconductor (News - Alert) is a provider of high-performance, single-mode LTE chipsets. Currently, more than 30 original design manufacturers worldwide have selected Altair to connect more than 80 end-user devices such as tablets, netbooks, USB dongles, portable hotspots, fixed routers and modems, and M2M applications.
Ecrio, which has partnered with Altair, is a provider of 4G LTE real time communications client software for the mobile industry. Precisely, its real time communications client software is used for standards compliant short message service (SMS), RCS, VoLTE and video calling services running on 4G LTE networks.
The real time communications client software from Ecrio, the Mobile Communications Client Suite (MCCS), which will be utilized for the new integrated solution, is powered by FlexIMS architecture. The MCCS accelerates the deployment of core 4G/LTE services across many device platform portfolios.
Ecrio’s FlexIMS architecture for MCCS features carrier-grade voice, video and SMS over LTE with optimized power consumption and low latency; rich communication suite capabilities including presence, IM/chat, contents sharing and more; and complete flexibility to distribute IMS-based communication features across processors.
The FlexIMS architecture facilitates the distribution of IMS services functions between the modem and application processors. With the help of this software, RCS and video calling functions can be incrementally integrated on the application processor to add to IMS, SMS and VoLTE functionality.
"Altair and Ecrio have a solid partnership, offering pre-integrated IMS/LTE functionality in portable and mobile platforms," said Michel Gannage, founder and CEO of Ecrio, in a statement. "We have now extended our cooperation to cover the VoLTE space, which we believe will be a strong catalyst for the enablement of VoLTE and advanced service-capable devices."
"With the rapid deployment of LTE networks in key markets and the growing number of advanced smartphones, VoLTE is quickly becoming a commercial reality." added Eran Eshed, co-founder and vice president of marketing and business development at Altair. "We are pleased to extend our partnership with Ecrio into this growing market to offer the most robust and mature VoLTE solution available."
Edited by Blaise McNamee