WIRELESS BODIES UNITE TO PUSH INTEROPERABILITY

Rugged individualism stepped aside in favor of global collaboration last week as approximately 200 companies and industry forums joined forces to develop open standards and finally ensure interoperability of wireless data services such as SMS and location-based services through a new organization called the Open Mobile Alliance.

Nokia launched the OMA last November, but the group took on a new persona last week by adding members such as China Telecom, Microsoft and NTT DoCoMo. The OMA will merge with the WAP Forum and has received memorandums of understanding from the Location Interoperability Forum, the MMS Interoperability Group, the SyncML initiative and the Wireless Village initiative to consolidate with the alliance.

“[This] marks the beginning of a new standard of excellence in the mobile industry based on an open approach,” said Alan Cox, head of international technologies at Vodafone.

It also marks the realization by operators and infrastructure providers that they can no longer hope to go it alone.

“With OMA successes, all of us involved will enjoy the benefits of a global ecosystem with no single player dominating the industry as we all grow the market together,” said Jon Prial, vice president of business development and sales at IBM.

The OMA wrote four key principles into its charter: products and services must be based on global standards; the applications layer must be bearer-agnostic; the architectural framework and service enablers must be independent of operating systems; and applications and platforms must be interoperable and provide seamless geographic and international roaming.

“Global standards are what's holding this industry back right now, so this is a very positive move,” said Mark Winther, group vice president of worldwide telecommunications at IDC.

Perhaps more important is the consolidation of the disparate industry groups. “It has been very complicated for anyone in the industry to figure out which forum to join and what it's going to do for them,” Winther said.

Members of the WAP Forum ratified their bylaws earlier in the month to support the OMA's creation. The OMA will continue the work of both the WAP Forum and the original OMA.

“Having 200 companies throughout the value chain commit to the principals and charter protocols and interfaces is an unprecedented achievement,” said Pertti Korhonen, senior vice president of mobile software at Nokia.

One of those companies, Microsoft, didn't sign on when OMA was formed in November, but it has since gotten onboard. “We see the formation of the OMA as a great step forward in bridging a number of industries together to [close] the gap between the Internet and wireless worlds,” said Steen Thygesen, director of solutions planning at Microsoft.

The inclusion of Microsoft and WAP player NTT DoCoMo helps establish OMA as a long-term venture. However, success will depend upon the willingness of participants to give up their penchants for propriety. Founding company Nokia says it's ready. “We are fully committed to migrate from any currently proprietary technology to the open specifications and standards as defined by OMA,” Korhonen said.