Richard �Zippy� Grigonis recently spoke with Ala-Ruona about how network operators can offer an intuitive, consistent and converged IP communication experience to its customers across devices.
RG: Movial appears to deal with all the hot topics: Open source, Mobile Internet, Presence, Linux, and what I�d call �unified interfaces�.
JAR: An end user doesn�t want to subscribe to a �siloed� application that would be messaging specifically, say, on a Samsung (News - Alert) phone running on Verizon�s network. The user is just interested in communicating: voice and video calls, seeing somebody�s presence status, and sending messages, and he wants to be able to do this on various phones, PCs, or other devices. After all, we�re moving to a �quintuple play� world, and we can show operators, OEMs, and device companies how to deliver unique, intuitive user experiences across PCs, mobiles, cars, set-top boxes, tablets and other platforms. We focus on the client/user side, showing operators how to improve user experiences by integrating various communications methods, including presence, contact lists, voice, video, and text and multimedia messaging into a single, branded interface across any device.
RG: Operators can do this using your open source device creation/integration and Internet communications applications?
JAR: Our Movial IXS Internet Experience Suite is a white label application suite for quickly creating custom-branded multimedia user interfaces for Linux-based mobile devices that meld Internet communications and media consumption into one seamless user experience, enabling integrated information access, communication and entertainment.
IXS consists of three major components: First, an Internet browser that supports Flash, Web 2.0, AJAX and Java; second, an advanced media player that�s compatible with wireless IPTV (News - Alert), DVB-H, and online music store services, and third, a communications interface called the Movial IXS Communicator for Linux, which offers video telephony, presence, instant messaging and video sharing software. It supports VoIP, SMS, and MMS, and offers a visual phonebook with a presence-enabled contacts list that can be integrated with PC applications. Our Communicator Mobile 5 upgrade that appeared in late October 2007 brought our suite to a new level, enabling device makers and Ds to develop and launch exciting IPbased services incorporating Presence, multimedia messaging, instant conferencing, push-to-video, music and video sharing, and mobile news across various device platforms and protocols.
For example, when a user presses the �Call� button, Movial Communicator determines the best way to route the request, thus ensuring call completion.
RG: It sounds like you�ve been in the UC business all along.
JAR: Interestingly, our extensive customer research regarding mobile phone usage and user demand for messaging applications indicates that young mobile users want a unified inbox, with an easy-to-use interface that combines IM with text and multimedia messaging. As you can surmise, our Communicator is a result of extensive mobile user feedback.
Moreover, we provide a full solution that includes device development, integration, user experience design, branding as well as maintenance and support. That�s why we�re respected by customers such as ARM (News - Alert), BMW, Intel, Nokia and Orange.
Since we focus on the client/user experience side, the network, whether it�s WiMAX, WiFi, HSPA [High-Speed Packet Access], 3G, 2G, or some kind of broadband, doesn�t really matter to us. We�re can deal with just about anything. Furthermore, although we�re wellknown for our work with Linux devices, we also support the Symbian Series 60 platform, Windows Mobile, and we have plans for a J2ME [Java 2 Platform Micro Edition] application too.
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