Kineto Wireless and Philips join forces to bring UMA to mobile phones

February 14, 2005

Kineto Wireless, a key innovator and leading supplier of UMA Technology, and Royal Philips Electronics announced today that the two companies are working together to bring Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) into mobile phone system solutions. The UMA Technology from Kineto combined with Philips’ Nexperia™ WiFi-enabled Cellular System Solutions will allow cell phones to roam voice, data and multi-media calls between conventional cellular networks and WLAN access points at home, in the office and at public areas (hot spots). These calls are transferred automatically back and forth, depending on whether the user is in range of the access point or not, which makes it very easy for consumers to always be on the fastest or lowest cost network, as it will be fully transparent to them.

Through this agreement, Philips plans to integrate Kineto’s UMA-compliant handset software client in Philips’ Nexperia Cellular System Solution, as well as leveraging Kineto’s UMA development test tools to help accelerate the development of UMA-complaint mobile devices. The resulting UMA-compliant GSM, GPRS, EDGE system will give consumers added flexibility with their mobile handsets.

“When users come into range of a WLAN access point, UMA enabled mobile phones will allow them to automatically switch over from a cellular network without interruptions,” said Mario Rivas, executive vice president Communications Businesses, Philips Semiconductors. “Our line of Nexperia Cellular Systems Solutions and low-power Wi-Fi products provide all the elements for a complete system design and will dramatically reduce time-to-market for mobile handset manufacturers to bring UMA enabled phones to their customers.”

“Kineto’s collaboration with Philips will help service providers provide a seamless, high-performance mobile voice, data and IMS experience on both cellular and low-cost home and office Wi-Fi networks,” said Mark Powell, founder and vice president with Kineto. “The company is delighted to be joining forces with Philips to bring UMA-compliant solutions to the marketplace.”

UMA Technology provides an alternative access to GSM and GPRS core network services via IP-based broadband connections. In order to deliver a seamless user experience, the specifications define a new network element and associated protocols that provide for the secure transport of GSM/GPRS signaling and user traffic over IP. The caller can automatically switch from GSM to IP-based networks and back again without interruptions. UMA also helps to make better use of the scarce GSM spectrum: as soon as a phone is in reach of an UMA access point, it will leave the GSM spectrum and continue its call over WiFi, leaving the GSM spectrum for those callers that really need it.

The open UMA specifications were developed by fourteen leading companies in the mobile industry to enable the delivery of mobile voice, data and IMS services over broadband IP access networks and Wireless LANs. As a result of the collaboration, Philips will be delivering UMA-compliant 2.5G/Wi-Fi Nexperia Cellular System Solutions mid-2005.