The Broadband Communications Revolution - Let's Talk

Media5 Special Feature

The Broadband Communications Revolution - Let's Talk

By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, TMC  |  December 01, 2011

This article originally appeared in the Dec. 2011 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

I was sitting in a coffee shop the other day feeling the effects of my third coffee that morning. As I sat and watched the crowd I realized that most of my fellow caffeine junkies sat silently, totally engrossed with their smartphones or tablets, and even those that were not in use were placed strategically on the table in front of them. In my caffeine-induced haze I thought to myself: “Has the smartphone adapted to society, or has society adapted to the smartphone?” I recently sat down with Pascal Doré, the mobility product manager at Media5 Corp., to discuss how the smartphone has become such an integral part of today’s world.  

IT: As the developer of the Media5-fone, how do you know where technology is going?

PD: It is all about the users experience with the mobile device. If users have a pleasant experience then they will use it again; if not, then they won’t. Now, although this sounds overly simple it actually is not. At Media5 we spend countless hours developing the technology involved in not only making the user’s experience pleasant today, but also six, twelve months down the road. We also work with a number of service provider and technology partners to ensure that our solutions meet the market’s demands.

IT: So how do Media5 and its partners enhance the user’s experience?

PD: When we speak about the user’s experience we often also refer to RCS-e or Rich Communication Suite (News - Alert) Ecosystem, which is an industry-wide effort to provide mobile service providers with a feature-rich portfolio of services that will enhance their end users’ communications experience by making it easy and fun. RCS-e is based on the use across networks of IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) technology, an architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services.  

The key to RCS-e is the Enhanced Address Book, which enables users to initiate communications including instant messaging, VoIP and video calls, and allows users to integrate multimedia functions, such as file or image sharing. The Enhanced Address Book also provides presence and enriched presence with location and mood.

During a call users may also need to do multiple functions at the same time that they are speaking, like exchange different types of content, such as video or photos.

IT: What is the role of the service providers in all this?

 PD: The market is such now that service providers need to continually differentiate themselves by providing their users with key value-added functionalities for seamless rich communication services anywhere, at any time, on any device in order to combat competitive pressures from over-the-top players.

IT: Continuing on the subject of user experience, where do you see Media5 heading in the short term?

PD: We are continuing to develop the Media5-fone softclient application portfolio, evolving it as technology and lifestyles change. We are excited to be near completion of a desktop and a tablet version of the fone, as well as a version for the BlackBerry (News - Alert) operating system.

The feature set for the Media5-fone is also going through some critical improvements. To keep in line with RCS-e initiatives, we are enhancing our feature set with presence and IM. This will enable service providers to further augment their subscribers’ footprint by providing compelling new product offerings that are in tune with today’s modern communication needs.

Service providers can now also target SOHO, families and be confident that since the Media5-fone meets RCS-e compliance, it delivers an enhanced communication experience that is interoperable and compatible industry wide.  

To learn more about Media5 Corp. and its line of leading VoIP solutions and services including the Media5-fone, please visit: http://www.media5corp.com/en/softphones/media5 (News - Alert)-fone-iphone   or E-mail [email protected].




Edited by Stefania Viscusi