Contacts:
Tim Yankey
McKie|Headstrom PR
, ext. 3
Michelle Olesiejuk
MWIF
OMA Public Relations
c/o Mike Hathaway
+1
For Immediate Release
MWIF Members Join OMA to Foster Wireless Internet Applications and Services
Fremont, CA, November 4, 2002 The Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF), today announced that it is combining its efforts with those of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). OMA is a global organization that works to develop open standards and specifications for mobile applications and services. One of the goals of OMA is to consolidate many of the industry fora focused on interoperability and open standards into one cohesive and impactive association. By contributing their efforts, the members of MWIF will support OMA in accelerating the standards development needed to ensure interoperability of mobile services and applications across multiple media access technologies.
"MWIF was very successful in its original mission of influencing the core network standards development organizations and educating the mobile Internet industry about the benefits of an open, Internet-style core network infrastructure," said Dean Sirovica, Managing Director of Strategic Technologies at Vodafone R&D and President of MWIF. "Once that part of our mission was complete, MWIF turned to the development of mobile Internet services and application architecture as a key to facilitate the commercial availability of IP-based wireless networks. With OMA taking the initiative to consolidate the industries energies in the mobile application space, it made perfect sense to contribute our efforts."
"MWIF¹s technical background and deep understanding of mobile and Internet architectures will be a significant addition to OMA,² said Jerry Upton, Interim Chairman of OMA. ³We look forward to the valuable contributions of the MWIF members in accelerating the development of mobile applications services specifications and interoperability."
Since January of 2000, MWIF has identified and overcome challenges in the cost-effective deployment of mobile Internet applications and services. The forum¹s accomplishments include: establishing and maintaining operator requirements; developing a loosely coupled distributed reference architecture; publishing six technical reports; facilitating a harmonization meeting between 3GPP and 3GPP2; and initiating various programs to educate the industry about the benefits of an Internet-style mobile Internet infrastructure.
MWIF¹s most recent achievement was working with Telcordia and Toshiba to demonstrate how innovative services can be delivered over an IP-based, loosely coupled, mobile Internet infrastructure. This demonstration proved the feasibility of the mobile wireless Internet and the existence of necessary technologies for its realization through a loosely coupled distributed architecture.
OMA is leading the mobile industry to develop open standards and specifications for mobile applications and services based upon market and customer requirements. It currently has over 200 members including mobile operators, device and network suppliers, information technology companies and content providers. The mission of OMA is to grow the market for the entire mobile industry by removing barriers and ensuring seamless application interoperability.
"OMA has established a strong leadership position within the mobile community," said Dr. John G. Waclawsky, MWIF Technical Committee Chair and Senior Technical Staff at Cisco Systems. "By consolidating the various mobile standard development and influencing bodies, OMA is creating a strong unified voice that will have a much better chance of establishing application and service standards that will accelerate the deployment of new mobile services and applications."
About the Open Mobile Alliance
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) delivers open standards for the mobile industry, helping to create interoperable services which work across countries, operators and mobile terminals and are driven by users¹ needs. To expand the mobile market, companies supporting the Open Mobile Alliance will work to stimulate the fast and wide adoption of a variety of new, enhanced mobile information, communication and entertainment services. The Open Mobile Alliance includes all key elements of the wireless value chain, and contributes to the timely and efficient introduction of services and applications. For more information, please visit www.openmobilealliance.org
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) name and logo are trademarks of Open Mobile Alliance Ltd.
About Mobile Wireless Internet Forum
Founded in January 2000, the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) is a nonprofit, international industry consortium whose mission is to drive acceptance and adoption of a single, open, mobile wireless Internet architecture that is independent of the access technology. MWIF and its members publish studies, discoveries and conclusions in technical reports that are made available to the industry. Membership is open to any organization with an interest in promoting the vision of influencing global wireless industry standards that improves interoperability of mobile technologies. Membership information can be found at mwif.org.
All trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners.
Mobile Wireless Internet Forum