The Mobile Unified Communications (mUC) market got a significant boost today when dual mode Wi-Fi cellular fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) manufacturer Agito Networks announced that they will now be able to support BlackBerry smartphones on their system. With the largest share of the North American enterprise smartphone market, nobody is getting far in FMC without BlackBerry support, and that deficiency has been one of the major obstacles hampering the adoption of these dual-mode systems.
Dual mode describes FMC solutions that hand off calls between public cellular and enterprise WLANs; solutions of this type are available from DiVitas, Varaha, and Siemens as well as Agito. Despite the obvious appeal of BlackBerry devices in this environment, the closed nature of the BlackBerry development environment has stymied the dual mode manufacturers leaving them with a mix of Symbian (Nokia) and Windows Mobile devices. Varaha also supports the iPhone, but without the automatic handoff capability. Getting BlackBerry users to switch to one of those other environments is simply a no-win situation.
With the largest population of smartphone users hooked on the BlackBerry, the user was left to choose between BlackBerry-based mobile clients from the PBX vendors that worked on cellular services only (e.g. Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, Avaya one-X Mobile UC, Siemens OpenScape Mobile, etc.) or RIM’s own cellular-only FMC solution, the BlackBerry MVS. While those solutions can provide single number reach, single voicemail, and the ability to extend some UC features to the mobile, they cannot provide one of the biggest benefits of FMC, the ability to reduce cellular charges by shifting some of that usage to Wi-Fi networks.
The BlackBerry MVS can incorporate Wi-Fi support when implemented with the carrier-based dual mode solution, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA). In the US, only T-Mobile offers that service (Rogers offers it in Canada), and it uses the same basic technology as T-Mobile’s consumer-oriented Unlimited HotSpot Calling (formerly HotSpot@Home). The enterprise version is called Wi-Fi Calling for Business. However, the MVS supports BlackBerry devices exclusively so the user still has to find an FMC solution for their non-BlackBerry users.
According to Pejman Roshan, Agito’s co-founder and VP of Marketing, they bet the company on getting BlackBerry support. The software is supported on a selection of 8300, 8800, and 8900 Curve models as well as the 8900 Bold. Agito predicts it will take their competitors at least a year to catch up. All of the supported models are for GSM networks, as RIM does not currently make a Wi-Fi equipped CDMA device. That may change with the introduction of the Storm 2 due out over the summer.
Importantly, Mr. Roshan notes, their product is not a “hack” but uses standard BlackBerry APIs. That is critically important as it ensures that the software will work on subsequent BlackBerry releases. Like their Symbian and Windows Mobile implementations, users can roam in and out of the Wi-Fi coverage area using Agito’s location-aware handoff, and it can support in-call feature access on their full line of supported PBXs (e.g. Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, ShoreTel, Alcatel-Lucent, etc.). As Maribel Lopez points out in her piece, “Agito Brings Blackberry Shops One Step Closer To The Vision of FMC”, you may have to add a lot of elements to your PBX to get mobility and then put up with long call set-up times.
The initial release is limited in terms of functionality. Agito’s standard implementation uses a single path approach where all of the signaling between the mobile device and the controller is activated with DTMF tones sent over the cellular voice path. Most other solutions like DiVitas and BlackBerry MVS use a dual-path implementation where the signaling is sent over a parallel cellular data connection. The advantage of the dual path approach that UC-type features like directory access, presence and visual voicemail can be delivered to the mobile- you can’t do that with DTMF tones. The offsetting benefit of the single path approach notes Mr. Roshan is faster call set-up and improved battery life.
Agito does support dual path as an option. In April, they announced their support for a Microsoft’s OCS interface based on a SIMPLE (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions) interface. That allowed them to extend OCS-based presence (but not message waiting indication or visual voicemail) to Nokia and Windows Mobile devices. The initial dual path implementation for BlackBerry provides directory access, and they plan a second release towards the end of summer that will include Microsoft presence and IM support.
Conclusion
Without BlackBerry support, the dual mode FMC market was going nowhere, however there is still much that needs to be done. CDMA subscribers (e.g. Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular customers) represent over 60% of the US cellular market. Further, Agito is going head-to-head with RIM’s own FMC solution, the MVS, that is being marketed by virtually all of the cellular carriers. At the outset, Agito lacks the UC-enhanced functionality that the MVS solution can provide.
While adding BlackBerry support to the dual mode option addresses one glaring deficiency, the market for enterprise FMC and Mobile UC is still a jumbled mess of “conditional if’s”. If you have this PBX, on that cellular carrier’s network, your WLAN is voice-capable, then you can get this set of capabilities, with this handset but not that one, and on it goes. That leaves too many ways for a customer to say “no”, or to simply defer the project until the picture clears up
There is a tremendous opportunity for someone to deliver an FMC solution that supports the full range of devices, on the full range of networks, with a consistent set of UC-based features through a consistent user interface that works as a real mobile adjunct to the desktop. This is one small step for Agito, but we’re still waiting for that “giant leap”.