MetroPCS pushes PTT to any phone

Kodiak platform allows any phone to connect to the push-to-talk network

MetroPCS has launched push-to-talk services, but with a twist. It’s using a new Kodiak Networks platform that can initiate calls to any device, essentially setting up a bridge between the PTT network and the standard voice network.

Only a phone embedded with the Kodiak client can initiate a call—so far it’s just one device, the Kyocera K312p—but by transferring the session to the CDMA voice network, the PTT session can be extended to any other phone on the Metro network without any further software upgrade. On the recipient side, the customer’s phone rings, and when answered, a standard voice session is established between the Kodiak server and the device. The call proceeds like a typical PTT session from that point, with the recipient pressing a key on the phone’s number pad to open a channel for his or her responses.

“It’s a big move forward in the push-to-talk industry,” said Bruce Lawler, executive vice president for business development and product marketing at Kodiak. “It’s the first launch of this kind in the world.”

With the exception of Nextel’s groundbreaking debut of push-to-talk technology, all PTT services have been limited by handset availability. AT&T and Alltel have both deployed Kodiak’s PTT architecture, but since the Kodiak client must embedded in the handset at the factory, only a few PTT-capable devices are available on their networks. In order to use it, customers have to specifically seek the service out and select their handset accordingly, making it very difficult to upsell PTT to existing customers.

Nextel, on the other hand, has seen enormous success with PTT, in a large part due to the reliability of its purpose-built iDEN platform but also due to the fact that PTT comes embedded on every Nextel phone. Sprint has been trying to replicate Nextel’s success on its CDMA network, but its PTT solution, using Qualcomm’s QChat technology over the EV-DO Revision A network, has encountered numerous delays. Sprint has promised that CDMA PTT service will launch this quarter, but even then, it will be limited to phones with the Qchat client.

Kodiak’s solution solves half the problem. While the full two-way service is available only to subscribers who buy a phone with the Kodiak client and subscribe to the service, the pool of people they can reach covers the entire Metro customer base, not just other PTT subscribers.

Today the Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon Wireless will launch a new version of its PTT service using its 3G EV-DO network. Verizon has sold PTT for years using Motorola’s Winphoria platform, which Sprint also initially adopted before pursuing QChat. By using the EV-DO network, Verizon would migrate push-to-talk to an entirely VoIP-based platform.