Here comes GAIT

Yesterday, Sonera SmartTrust (www.smarttrust.com) and SchlumbergerSema (www.sema.com) announced a deal to provide Cingular Wireless (www.cingular.com) with a system to remotely activate and deliver SMS text messages to GAIT traffic. The GAIT standard makes it possible for subscribers to roam between GSM and TDMA networks.

Sonera SmartTrust will supply the GAIT over-the-air activation platform, which the two companies will integrate with SchlumbergerSema’s SMS Center. With the integration, the SMS Center will be able to accept activation messages from SmartTrust’s OTA platform and download the proper applications to GAIT subscribers’ devices.

In addition, SchlumbergerSema will update the Chicago SMS Center that it installed for Cingular last year. The center delivers SMS messages to TDMA and CDMA network subscribers, and with the update, also will messages to GAIT traffic.

“Cingular debuts the SchlumbergerSema offer of GAIT not only in the messaging space, but also in the over-the-air activation arena,” said Richard Mak, SchlumbergerSema senior telecoms systems architect.

According to Mak, other North American TDMA carriers haven’t expressed much interest in the vendor’s GAIT products. He thinks there may be more interest in the future, as the GAIT standard evolves and devices become widely available.

In the meantime, the GAIT OTA system gives SchlumbergerSema the opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of a multiprotocol SMS center, as well as its ability to update existing SMS centers to include additional air-interface protocols, Mak said. The next version of SchlumbergerSema’s SMS center platform will be able to support GSM, GAIT, TDMA and CDMA simultaneously, he said.

The GAIT deployment also marks a first for SmartTrust’s GAIT OTA system, according to Lumia Ojajarvi, Sonera SmartTrust communications coordinator. Ojajarvi said the OTA system will provide GAIT networks with the same benefits that remote activation gives all networks that operate with SIM cards – that is, the ability to remotely manage the SIM cards and download files to the SIM cards or mobile devices, which would include initial activation and applications such as phone-book management via a Web site.