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Let’s Talk Standards

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DQI Bureau
New Update

The latest alliance of alliances starts with all the right buzz words and

aspirations! It also pulls together a ‘who’s who’ of the mobile

communications sector, including the usual suspects from the operators, handset

manufacturers, chip suppliers, software and content providers. Worthy names such

as Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, AT&T, Vodafone, Texas Instruments,

Microsoft, Intel and IBM. And the latest entrant into that elite club called the

Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is Sun Micro. It is reassuring that senior

representatives from these companies realize and admit there’s a lot of work

to be done. And that there will eventually have to be some serious compromises

offered if the fruits of this alliance are to be realized.

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Presently, wireless device makers, service providers, and software developers

use a variety of disparate operating systems and applications that can make it

hard for different devices and networks to interact. At the same time, many of

these players have formed competing alliances, hedging their bets on which

standards might dominate wireless computing in the same way that Windows is the

dominant platform for personal computers. Wireless industry insiders have long

complained that the proliferation of separate standards bodies creates

"technology stovepipes" where techies working on emerging standards

are unaware of others’ work until it is complete.

Objectives

of OMA
Enable

consumer access to interoperable and easy to use mobile services across

geographies, operators, and mobile terminals
Define an

open standards based framework to permit services to be built, deployed,

and managed efficiently and reliably in a multi-vendor environment
Establish

itself as the only mobile industry standards forum
Function

as the driving force responsible for creating service level

interoperability
Drive

the implementation of open services and interface standards, through the

user centric approach to ensure the fast wide adoption of mobile service

By folding multiple standards forums into the WAP Forum and renaming it the

Open Mobile Alliance, member companies hope to make the process of getting new

services off the drawing board and into their customers’ hands both faster and

better coordinated. The OMA was formed in June 2002 by 200 companies

representing the world’s leading mobile operators, device and network

suppliers, information technology companies, and content providers. The OMA is

designed to be the center of mobile service standardization work.

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The foundation of the OMA was created by consolidating the efforts of the

supporters of the Open Mobile Architecture initiative and the WAP Forum. In

addition, the Location Interoperability Forum (LIF), SyncML, MMS

Interoperability Group (MMS-IOP), and Wireless Village, each focusing on mobile

service enabler specifications, announced that they have signed a Memorandum of

Understanding of their intent to consolidate with the OMA. Officially created

through a vote by the WAP Forum members to modify the structure and name of the

former WAP Forum, the Alliance boasts a board staffed with representatives of

fifteen industry-leading companies, including Openwave, Motorola, and Vodafone.

The group has invited other forums to join, and hopes to "be the catalyst

for the consolidation of standards forums". The principles of the body

include making available products and services based on open, global standards,

protocols, and interfaces and are not locked to proprietary technologies. The

oft-repeated mantra is that OMA will encourage differentiation and innovation

while ensuring interoperability of new and existing services. And that whatever

emerges need not mandate how things are done, just what needs to be achieved to

meet minimum capabilities.

Despite this entire furore, why is it that all we are left with is a sense of

déjà vu?

Dhanya Krishnakumar In New Delhi

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