An Irish software company has developed an application that will allow people using Nokia smartphones to roam between Wi-Fi areas and traditional mobile networks without dropping a call.
Dublin-based Cicero Networks has announced CiceroPhone, a dual-mode voice over internet protocol (VoIP) client for Nokia S60 handsets including the E60, E61, E70 and N80 models. The software is scheduled to be released on 30 November.
CiceroPhone automatically routes calls over the best available network, whether it be Wi-Fi or cellular. The company claimed that the system uses intelligent routing rules to ensure optimum quality and cost on all calls. It also allows routing decisions to be optimised on the handset for certain phone numbers or ranges of numbers for specific networks.
According to research figures from technology analyst firm Canalys, the converged device market is growing, with shipments of smart phones and wireless handhelds in the second quarter of 2006 rising by 73pc. Nokia itself shipped more than nine million Symbian smart phones during that quarter, of which around 95pc of these were S60 models, Canalys said.
“Nokia is the market leader in the smartphone market and it has been a strategic priority for us to support S60 platform to enable operators to drive fixed-mobile convergence adoption,” said Ross Brennan, CEO Cicero Networks. “The addition of CiceroPhone for Nokia S60 smartphones to our portfolio underpins our commitment to bring mobile wireless VoIP technology and fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solutions to the mainstream market.”
Last year Cicero launched what was claimed to be the industry’s first dual-mode client for Windows Mobile 5.0 converged devices. It has been already been deployed by a number of telecommunication service providers and is also being used in pre-market trials in over 30 operators.
The products are made available to the public through the mobile operators. A spokesman for the company said there was no word yet on when the CiceroPhone for Nokia software would be available over Irish networks.
By Gordon Smith
