Nokia Looking For 3G Unity
By Jim Wagner
In Cannes, France this week, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) is putting on a show for 3GSM World Congress attendees.
In addition to the usual deluge of product announcements Wednesday that are standard at any industry convention, the wireless phone maker issued a call to other wireless equipment vendors to open up standards for interoperability in a wide variety of areas, preferably using Nokia's technology.
Dr. J.T. Bergqvist, Nokia senior vice president, said compatibility is the key to wireless phone equipment success in the future, and wants to create "technology modules unit" that will use Nokia technology to create an open vendor platform for wireless, which will be sold to all equipment makers (including Nokia) on equal terms.
"Nokia's strategy is to open the internal architectures for standard commercial components, thereby increasing efficiency throughout the industry and bringing consumers a wider range of new, exciting and affordable mobile services," he said.
It's uncertain what other wireless equipment manufacturers think of this somewhat utopian vision for wireless products based on Nokia's existing technology. Officials said they have approached other companies to join the technology module initiative, but wouldn't tell whether the vendors were interested or not.
The first module products will be available for universal use in mid-2002.
The module unit launch and call for an open standard is part of Nokia's far-reaching goals to bring equipment makers under one standards umbrella to speed up delivery of new products to the consumer. Working with standards already created and approved by standard's bodies like the 3rd Generation Partneship Project (3GPP) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the vendor hopes companies can work together to launch more products going forward.
One initiative running under Nokia's goal for standards unity is the open IP base station architecture, running on the multiple mobile network standard for radio access networks (RANs).
Launched concurrently with its new product line of wideband code-division multiplex access (WCDMA) base stations, Nokia said a technology standard brings network costs down for its customers.
"It will allow next-generation All-IP base stations to be built using best-of-breed shared platforms and modules, available on an open market, whilst letting network suppliers differentiate on system and network-element levels," Bergqvist said. "Expected to contribute to bringing the network costs per capacity down, this initiative is a pivotal element in enabling large-scale Mobile Internet service usage at affordable prices."
Nokia has made a concerted effort to play nice with industry leaders, culminating in the company's joining forces with Siemens to support a global open standard for broadband wireless networks, a hybrid of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's (ETSI) BRAN standards.
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