Wireless Village Initiative conducts mobile IM demo

The Wireless Village Initiative today announced it successfully completed a demonstration during which it connected three mobile phones to two mobile instant messaging (IM) and presence servers--one in the United States, the other in Sweden.

According to the consortium, the mobile terminals successfully completed some of the basic features of the Wireless Village Initiative client-server protocol. These included the authentication of the remote servers by the mobile phones, the exchange of presence information, and the transport---in both directions---of instant messages.

Formed earlier this year by Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia to develop a universal standard for interoperable IM and presence services, the consortium said the demo is an important step in developing a specification.

"The demonstration clearly confirms the technical direction of the Wireless Village specifications and that the scheduled work is on the right track," said Nokia's Frank Dawson, the chairman of the Wireless Village Initiative, in a statement.

--Glenn Bischoff, senior writer