Starhome, the provider of roaming and service mobility solutions is showcasing its new IP-Mobile Gateway platform at Mobile World Congress. The new platform bridges the gap between the GSM and IP worlds and provides a seamless experience between different networks and devices. The latest applications running on the Gateway include both consumer and enterprise solutions, which have been conceived to enable mobile operators to embrace the IP world whilst maintaining customer loyalty and extending usage of mobile data.
The new IP-Mobile Gateway integrates with the mobile network as a standard MSC/VLR and uses existing mobile network components including HLR, with a leg in the IP world. An important component of this new technology is the Service Broker which enables multiple triggers for IN networks and also converts protocols between CAMEL/IN legacy systems and IMS. The Gateway is based on Starhome's field-proven IntelliGate Service Mobility Platform, deployed at over 130 mobile operator networks worldwide.
The consumer solution running on the platform, Mobile2IP, offers users a seamless experience between mobile phones and PCs/dual mode handsets, according to their current presence and devices (IP or Mobile). Users can enjoy the advantage of a single mobile identity with the same number, address book, call log and billing, along with a virtual mobile phone in the form of a branded soft client which offers voice, presence, SMS/MMS, IMS, video and various internet and sharing applications.
The enterprise solution, PBX Anywhere, extends PBX switching capabilities from fixed or IP devices, to any mobile device. These features include call hunting, VPN tunnelling, call screening, intelligent call routing and cost cutting plus the option for split billing between private and business usage.
For existing Starhome customers already equipped with the field-proven IntelliGate platform for their roaming needs, the new IP features will be offered as a modular upgrade. Moreover, the solutions are also available as a managed or hosted service. According to Starhome COO Shlomo Wolfman, "Unlike the rest of the industry which seems intent on shoe-horning the Internet into the mobile phone, the approach laid out by Starhome allows mobile operators to fight back with a strategy which empowers operators to maintain customer loyalty by extending the mobile phone environment onto other IP devices and solutions. Operators can also gain new, off-net customers by providing non-mobile applications." He continued, "Mobile operators cannot wait for IMS to come of age while IP service providers take control of their customers. We believe that the approach we have depicted allows operators to offer their customers valuable converged services today which are IMS-ready.