The ISV, which is a division of UK-based, AIM-listed Tower Plc, currently offers a VoIP client for desktop and laptop computers, called Vyke PC. It also sells a Java client for cellphones, Vyke Mobile, which is not for VoIP calling but rather enables users to avoid international roaming charges via a call-back facility. Vyke Mobile is made possible by the fact that Vyke itself has a long-distance operator’s license.
Our client sends a data signal, with the information about the number the user wants to call, over a GPRS connection or, failing that, via an SMS message to our switches, then we call back and set up the call, explained Hans-Arne L’orange, CEO of Tower. If the caller is in another country, meanwhile, they can nominate a fixed-line number, say in their hotel room, to which the call-back will go, thus avoiding both international roaming and the premium the big hotel chains charge on international calls.
For dual-mode offerings on the Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, Vyke is developing a combination of the PC and Mobile client, such that, when the phones are in a WiFi hotspot they will be able to make VoIP calls, while when they are out of range of a hotspot they will still be able to avoid cellular roaming charges through call-back, L’orange explained.
A definitive name for the merged client has yet to be decided, but Vyke WiFi is a distinct possibility.
On its website, the company describes what Vyke Mobile does as enabling operator-independent, low-cost international calling and text messaging and, not surprisingly, it markets it through channel partners rather than mobile carriers. In it is home country of Norway, for instance, it has a partnership with the local subsidiary of Danish mobile distributor and services company Dangaard Telecom A/S to install the client on all handsets sold without an operator agreement.
The Vyke-enabled Nokia Eseries (the E60, E61 and E70), as well as the Sony Ericsson 990i phones will thus go through this channel, aimed at businesses that want to reduce their comms spending by using WiFi wherever possible, and cellular call-back where not. For both these manufacturers, the putative Vyke WiFi client will run on one or other flavor of the Symbian operating systems, but L’orange said a version is also being developed for the Windows Mobile 5.0 in order to run on Qtek handsets from Chinese ODM vendor High Tech Computer Corp (HTC).
Vyke’s background is a series of mergers and takeovers. Icelandic comms software developer Maskina Ehf was acquired in 2004 by the specially created Norwegian unit Maskina AS, headquartered in Oslo. The assets involved were, in the company’s words, a set of mobile handset products that enabled the provision of advanced data services to and from mobile phones.
Then Maskina went into partnership, leading to a merger, with Dallas, Texas-based Transcom Communications Inc, which was a facilities-based carrier with its own billing platform, which led to a product offering to enable voice calls to be originated from and terminated to mobile phones, fixed lines and personal computers utilising VoIP. Then in June last year London, UK-based Tower Plc announced a reverse takeover of Maskina.
