RIM Pearl using Kodiak PTT for Cingular launch

With a lock on push e-mail, Research in Motion is now looking into wireless’ other successful business application, push-to-talk, but the company is doing it with other vendors’ technologies. Kodiak Networks today said RIM has signed a licensing agreement to use the Kodiak client on its BlackBerry line of smartphones, starting with the Pearl that recently went on sale through Cingular.

While the deal with RIM could extend to the entire BlackBerry catalog, it won’t be for every phone shipped in a particular product line, but rather a case-by-case basis for individual carriers. Cingular uses the Kodiak push-to-talk solution, and it initiated the original discussions with RIM on including Kodiak’s PTT client on new BlackBerry devices, said Tim Hall, Kodiak vice president of strategic alliances.

“Cingular was initially focused on consumer/family talk when the first started push-to-talk,” Hall said. “You’ll see from this and other announcements that Cingular is clearly interested in bringing push-to-talk to the enterprise space.”

While Kodiak uses its own proprietary network technology to power PTT in carriers’ networks, it has developed a Java-based clients that can be loaded into most vendors’ phones, allowing it to support any carrier’s launch of its PTT solution. In the case of RIM, Kodiak developed a special client that integrated with its own proprietary operating system and unique implementation of Java, but for most vendors enabling the Kodiak client is simply a matter of uploading software before the phone ships, Hall said.

While several other carriers use the Kodiak PTT solution, including Orange and Alltel, Cingular is the only to launch with the Pearl with its PTT solution so far, but Hall said he expects other deals to follow as the Pearl becomes more popular.