wow, after wading through 50 or more posts, it seems as though maybe 10 or 15 had information in them.
some news to chew on:
Sun Technology Brings World of Wireless From the Back Office to the Network; Sun Hardware and Software Helps Carriers Offer New Services/Diversify
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1998--Faced with fierce competition, many of the world's wireless carriers are turning to Sun Microsystems, Inc. to bring the power of technology that runs the back office onto the network and into the cars and briefcases of their customers.
In a competitive environment fueled by explosive growth opportunities, deregulation and a host of new players, wireless carriers from the tropical islands of Indonesia to the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland are relying increasingly on hardware and software solutions to cut costs, response to customer demand and diversify by offering new services.
"Both new and established carriers are responding to market conditions by cutting costs and finding shorter routes to market," said Chris Hurst, vice president, worldwide telecommunications and cable industries for Sun Microsystems, Inc. "This trend has created new opportunities for hardware and software applications not just in the back office, but as adjuncts to the networks and phones themselves."
Hurst said Sun's wireless customers are also poised to exploit the development and deployment of mobile data services that allow consumers reliable access anywhere, any time to information and services on the Internet. Industry analysts predict the number of global wireless subscribers will skyrocket from 80 million to more than 150 million by 2,001, with the fastest growth taking place in Asia and Latin America. (Insight Research, Feb., 97.) In any given market, there maybe up to eight carriers competing for subscribers.
"As the competition heats up, we are seeing a move to client-server open systems platforms for billing, support and customer service," Hurst said. "At the same time, in their push to develop and deploy new services more rapidly, carriers are introducing client-server based applications on their networks and in new services to customers."
New Players Compete in Latin America
In Venezuela, where privatization has opened up a host of new opportunities in telecommunications, Telcel Celular, C.A., increased its stake in the market by introducing pre-paid cellular services for 500,000 subscribers. Telcel chose Sun(TM) servers and the Solaris(TM) operating environment running on an Oracle database to support the introduction of the new service offering. The Sun solution provides a powerful, scalable platform to support the new service.
In Argentina, where privatization has drawn some of the world's largest carriers into a global competition, one of the country's established telephone companies, TELEFONICA, took advantage of new market conditions to form the wireless carrier, TCP UNIFON. TCP UNIFON has selected Sun as its main IT supplier. The company recently added a Sun(TM) Enterprise(TM) 10000 server to its Sun technology-based cellular network administration environment which consists of two Sun Enterprise 6000 servers. The new equipment supports the latest versions of a mission-critical billing and customer management applications and is helping TCP UNIFON better manage network data processing.
Competition and Deregulation Lead to Innovation in Europe
In the UK, Sun technology is playing a major role both in the back office and on the wireless networks of Cellnet, the UK's second largest cellular carrier with more than 3 million customers. The company, owned jointly by British Telecom and Securicor, turned to a Sun solution for its new Network Management Center west of London. Cellnet's Autoclient network management software runs on the Sun SPARCserver(TM) 20 in the company's computer room downstairs. When staff in the monitoring center log on, their workstations are booted across the network from the servers downstairs. Once booted, the client systems run independently from the server. The process is transparent to the user and the system can be administered from a single machine, allowing the company to maximize the efficiency of its monitoring staff.
Cellnet is also relying heavily on Sun platforms to run new applications on its network. Cellnet's recently launched Genie service, running on three Sun Enterprise 3000 servers, is a Web service allowing users to request information to be delivered to their mobile phone using GSM's SMS (Short Messaging Service) text message facility. Sun is also associated with Nortel in Cellnet trials using the Nortel Java(TM) technology-based mobile client which promises a richer user interface and could open up new possibilities for services such as news, sports, and finance information accessible from mobile phones.
In Switzerland, the state-owned carrier Swisscom is developing a number of applications to increase the brain power of its popular prepaid mobile telephone SIM card, which slips into the mobile phone. Swisscom's SICAP project uses the SIM card as a thin client for applications running on an Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) Cluster. Swisscom is developing a raft of data and electronic applications for SICAP, including making travel reservations, buying tickets and locating parking spots. Swisscom currently provides SICAP, its value added Services platform, including the pre-paid billing solution, to a number of large wireless operators worldwide.
Telecom Italia Mobile, Italy's largest wireless company, chose a cluster of Starfire(TM) and Sun Enterprise 3000 servers running in a Solaris(TM) operating environment in order to develop a plethora of new SAP services for more than 1200 users. The company chose a Starfire server in order to scale quickly at a time when market conditions have made SAP more critical.
Meeting Growth Targets in Asia
In South Korea, Korea Telecom-FreeTel, a new wireless telephone provider backed by the Korean government, has chosen a cluster of Starfire servers, the Solaris operating environment and other software programs to manage the large billing system, business information system, business information systems and customer service applications for its Personal Communications Service. A subsidiary of Korea Telecom, South Korea's major telecommunications carrier, FreeTel launched its new PCS service this month in October of 1997.
In Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation in the world, PT Excelcomindo is building a network that will bring digital cellular telephone service based on the GSM standard to millions of customers. The holder of one of three GSM licenses in Indonesia, PT Excelcomindo has selected two Starfire servers and the E4000 along with the Solaris operating environment to provide a high-volume billing system. The system will initially manage billing for 200,000 subscribers, and is scalable to up to a million subscribers.
Japan's largest mobile communications operator, NTT DoCoMo, has made Sun servers and clusters the hardware of choice to meet its ever growing storage requirements. NTT DoCoMo has deployed more than 10 Sun clusters and 22 Sun servers running Oracle parallel Server software and SPARCstorage(TM) arrays in a mission-critical environment to manage more than 10,000 PC clients in some 2,000 locations. NTT DoCoMo's digital network covers 98 percent of the Japanese population.
In New Zealand, Telecom New Zealand is the first operator to launch a wireless data service based on leading-edge Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) technology. The service, called AirData, allows users to send information over a packet switched cellular network to a mobile workforce. Couriers out in the field, who receive and relay messages back on a modem-fitted laptop, or a handheld device, are an example of this. The service is based on a network infrastructure developed by Ericsson, using server technology from Sun. The CDPD backbone for the AirData service is an IP network running on multiple Sun Ultra-2(TM) servers delivering authentication, accounting and network management services.
Sun provides a broad range of technologies used in the delivery of wireless services. Sun offers the industry's most scalable line of systems, extending from the high-performance desktop workstations to large servers such as the data-center-class Sun Enterprise 10000 Starfire server, with up to 64 processors.
Sun also provides chip technologies that are embedded in wireless phones. Sun's SPARC(TM) and Solaris hardware and software environment is used extensively as a platform to develop and deploy wireless applications for wireless infrastructure, enhanced services provisioning, network management, and customer care and billing.
Sun's Java(TM) technology, which is driving industry standards, enables software developers to innovate and develop products and services that can be rapidly deployed across multiple platforms.
All Sun systems are designed for the high levels of reliability, availability and serviceability required for mission-critical telecom environments.
About Sun
Sun Microsystems is a leading information technology solutions provider to the global telecommunications industry, including local and long-distance telecom providers, PTTs (postal-telephone-telegraph), cellular and PCS operators, Internet service providers, and telecom equipment suppliers. Together with many of the industry's premier application vendors, Sun offers telecom providers a complete range of network-based solutions, including business support systems, operations support systems, network management and Internet and intranet technologies. Sun's core technologies include the scalable Solaris/SPARC Platform Edition, and Java technology, Sun's development environment for creating cross-platform, cross-network applications.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ:SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $9 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the WorldWide Web at sun.com. -0- Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Sun Enterprise, Starfire, Ultra, Java, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape Navigator or Sun's HotJava. Type sun.com at the URL prompt.
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