The 7270 has WiFi connectivity and a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) client, making not only voice over IP a possibility, but also all other services such as presence, instant messaging and voice conferencing, according to Paul Templeton, VP of enterprise networks in EMEA for Nortel.
While the 7270 from RIM, a neighbor of Nortel in nearby Waterloo, Ontario, forms the basis for the joint offering from the handset side, from the network perspective the equipment vendor will be pushing its Multimedia Communications Server (MCS) 1500 as the platform to enable the IP telephony services. In a sense, Mr Templeton said, the alliance offers the 7270 as a wireless SIP client.
For 3Com, the 7270 will be the device it will offer to communicate with its IP PBX as the handset for what Mike Valiant, international market development manager for enterprise voice solutions at the networking company, referred to as the campus warrior.
In other words, since the handset has no wide-area wireless connectivity in the form of GPRS, its use will be limited to campus environments such as factories, exhibition halls and so on, though clearly it will also be able to be used in wireless hotspots away from the office.
It is, if you will, an IP version of a cordless phone, but with all the additional functionality that IP and SIP make possible, albeit only in a restricted area.
We will provide the wireless switching infrastructure for roaming, and we also have the soft phones for PCs and desktop VoIP phones, with which it can be synched, said Mr Valiant.
Its price also reflects the absence of cellular technology, making it more attractive for corporates to deploy for users that need to be wireless but not necessarily mobile, Mr Valiant said.
Its cheaper because there are no network costs, since if you’re using VoIP it’s going over your own network at no extra cost. He added, the 7270 gives presence and IM, and since it supports Java, other applications can be developed such as stock control.
Nortel’s Mr Templeton emphasized that the relationship with RIM was a corporate alliance of which this is only the first concrete result. For the future, he foresees GPRS connectivity as well as WiFi on RIM handsets for a more upmarket offering, something Mr Valiant also expected on the roadmap.
The alliances with Nortel and 3Com are important for RIM if it is to go beyond the push email paradigm. That business model has, of course, been highly successful for the Canadian developer, its cellular BlackBerry devices having become what Mr Valiant referred to as the executive’s Palm Pilot.
Others are encroaching on its space, however. Mobile telephony heavyweight Vodafone Group Plc has just shown its own push email service at the CeBIT Preview show in Hamburg, promising to deliver emails to BlackBerries and smart phones.
So RIM needed to move on, and hitching at least part of its future to the SIP/VoIP wagon would appear to be no bad thing. While the relationships announced with equipment vendors are clearly not exclusive, it remains to be seen whether RIM will strike similar arrangements with other companies pushing SIP such as Avaya, Alcatel or Siemens.
