During last week's Interop convention in Las Vegas, Cisco and Nokia announced a number of trials for their mobile unified communications solution, but the news included little in the way of new capabilities. The problem is that while most of the other fixed mobile convergence (FMC) solutions on the market can deliver an automatic hand-off; Cisco still must depend on the user to manually transfer the call. That automatic hand-off function is critical, because without it, there is no way of ensuring the users' calls are being sent over the less costly WLAN option when they are within range.
During last week's Interop convention in Las Vegas, Cisco and Nokia announced a number of trials for their mobile unified communications solution, but the news included little in the way of new capabilities. The problem is that while most of the other fixed mobile convergence (FMC) solutions on the market can deliver an automatic hand-off; Cisco still must depend on the user to manually transfer the call. That automatic hand-off function is critical, because without it, there is no way of ensuring the users' calls are being sent over the less costly WLAN option when they are within range.Fixed mobile convergence solutions can be analyzed on three major metrics: control, functionality, and integration. Control describes whether the solution is managed as part of a carrier service or by the customer premises equipment. With the exception of T-Mobile's consumer-oriented [email protected] product, the cellular carriers have shown little interest in FMC. That reluctance has created a market for some very creative customer-based solutions.
The functionality metric identifies whether the solution provides a simple voice call handoff, or real mobile unified communications with features like presence-capable remote directory, visual voice mail, and 4-digit extension dialing.
The hand-off function is covered by the integration metric and identifies whether a call is handed off automatically between the cellular and private networks, or if the user must invoke a manual command to effect the transfer.
Clearly the goal is to provide a mobile UC capability where calls are handed off automatically as the user moves between the private and the public networks and full UC functionality is available wherever the user is located. Fortunately, we are seeing a number of solutions that can deliver those capabilities.
The Start-Ups Avaya, Motorola and Proxim made the first foray into customer-based FMC with their short-lived Seamless Convergence offering. DiVitas Networks re-created the concept in 2005, with a solution that could work with any TDM or IP-based PBX. In the DiVitas solution, a server is connected to the PBX and it works with special client software in dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets. When a Wi-Fi connected station begins to move out of the wireless LAN coverage area, the station signals the server that it is losing the Wi-Fi signal. In response, the DiVitas Server instructs the PBX to dial the user's cellular number, and the call is automatically transferred to the cellular connection.
The DiVitas mobile client also offers a range of UC capabilities including presence-based directory and visual voice mail. DiVitas President and CEO Vivek Khuller points out that like manual FMC solutions, the user is accessible at one number, but since the network selection is automatic, you are assured that the call will be routed over the less-expensive WLAN access if it is available. In a manual solution, there is no way of ensuring that the user is not simply using the cellular network even when they are in range of the WLAN.
DiVitas is now being challenged by another start-up, Agito Networks. Agito markets a configuration and a set of features similar to DiVitas' with their RoamAnywhere Mobility Router and RoamAnywhere software client for dual-mode phones. Agito's Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing Pejman Roshan argues their solution is easier to deploy, and with its location "metric", it can make a smarter hand-off decision. While DiVitas will argue to the contrary, a Cisco WLAN user now has two ways to get that automatic hand-off capability.
The IP PBX Vendors The IP PBX vendors have been rolling out automatic hand-off FMC capabilities of their own, though the level of UC functionality varies by product. Undeterred by their Seamless Convergence experience, Avaya has now come out with a strong mobile UC capability. If you dig through Avaya's incomprehensible product names, you will find that they too can support automatic hand-offs along with a range of mobile UC capabilities that integrate nicely with their desktop UC solutions.
Siemens offers a mobile extension of their OpenScape unified communications platform. Their HiPath MobileConnect offering features automatic hand-off as well as a range of mobile UC capabilities. Where other traditional PBX vendors must depend on someone else's WLAN to provide in-house mobility, Siemens offers its own WLAN switch product through their Chantry Networks division, which they acquired in 2005. Siemens does have a software client for dual mode Wi-Fi cellular handsets, but they also manufacture their own line of optiPoint WLAN-only handsets, giving them the widest range of voice over WLAN and FMC products.
WLAN Switch Vendors Along with the PBX vendors and start-ups, the WLAN switch vendors are now getting into the FMC act. Aruba Networks has quietly been testing the capability to integrate their centrally controlled WLAN switch product with T-Mobile's consumer-oriented [email protected] service. [email protected] is based on Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), and Aruba has been able to trick the UMA-capable Wi-Fi/cellular handsets to associate with their centrally controlled thin access points the same way they would with a customer's home-based WLAN. The difference is that with the Aruba solution, [email protected] clients could roam anywhere within the coverage area of the WLAN switch network, and the call would be transparently handed off from access point to access point.
According to Aruba Co-Founder Keerti Melkote, the company is now looking to add a capability to their Mobility Controllers that would work like the DiVitas and Agito solutions. Mr. Melkote notes that the WLAN switch has the clearest view of the WLAN environment, and with its integrated location capabilities, it can make the most informed decision about when to transition the caller to the cellular network. What's more, the SIP-based signaling will allow them to interface with a variety of IP PBXs.
Conclusion As Jim Burton of CT-Link/UC Strategies pointed out in a post last month, for a growing number of users, the key benefit of unified communications will be mobility. The vision of what that mobility will encompass is coming into focus, and a transparent integration between the private wired/Wi-Fi and cellular networks is definitely part of the picture. It will be interesting to see if Cisco's customers will get that, or if they will have to root their mobility solution in some other platform.
